


The Medallion of Heroes

by Anonymous



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, F/M, Gen, Kid Fic, Reuploaded here with permission of original author, This is an archived version of a fic originally posted to Wattpad, Time Travel, child oc's - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-03
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 49,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27363187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: [originally posted to Wattpad by justlonder in 2012-2014, rehomed to AO3 in Nov 2020]It's been three weeks since Annabeth and Percy were rescued from the pits of Tartarus. Three brutal weeks of the Seven reuniting after a month of hell, and three weeks of Percy and Annabeth putting their minds back together after their experiences down THERE.The final battle is approaching, and Gaea's army is poised to take Olympus, held back by the small combined armies of Camps Half-Blood and Jupiter. The gods are weak, split between their forms, and tensions between the camps are still high.Things get even more chaotic when five teenagers appear, quite literally, out of nowhere. They claim impossible things, and swear that they're there to help. In return, they need assistance acquiring a mysterious artifact that they need for their own quest. The five of them are persuasive, but not everyone is completely convinced that their loyalties lie with the camps...
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Kudos: 2
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapters 1-10

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reupload of justlonder's Medallion of Heroes fic, originally posted ~2012-2013 on Wattpad.   
> Posted here with permission of the original author for archival purposes when they deactivate their Wattpad account.

**Chapter 1**

The Seven, Reyna, and Chiron stood around a map-covered table, in the middle of a hastily erected command pavilion. Annabeth and Reyna were going over their plans one last time, before the Giants’ sunset deadline. They had four hours left to give them an answer-surrender, and let the gods fall, or fight with everything they could possibly muster. The odds of winning were impossibly low, but nobody dared suggest that they could surrender. They hadn't come this far, thousands of miles away from their homes, just to give up at the last moment. 

“- send the Third Cohort around the north flank. There could be magic users scattered throughout the army, so divy up the Hecate cabin and send a few of them with each group. They'll be able to hold off most of the attacks.” Annabeth sighed. “I think that’s it. The rest is up to us.”

Reyna nodded, sighing resignedly. “I’ll ready the troops. May Fortuna smile upon us all.” Dipping into a slightly curtsey to Chiron, she marched out of the room, barking orders to the legionaries who were standing guard just outside.

Chiron gave them all a warm smile. “You have done well, young heroes. You ought to-“

Leo cut him off. “Ummmm….don’t want you guys to freak and stuff, but should we be worried if there’s a swirly white portal appearing behind us? Just askin’.”

The other demigods and Chiron twisted around to look at what Leo was pointing at.

In the center of the back wall of the pavilion was a swirling vortex of white light that burned into their eyes like someone was Febreezing their faces. The very center of the spinning mass was getting darker, five blobs slowly forming in the distance. Then there was a noise like the air rushing out of a balloon and a blast of hot air.

The Portal exploded into beams of rainbow-colored light. Everybody flinched, throwing up their hands to defend their faces.

The barrage of light lasted another twenty seconds or so. When the last of it receded, they hesitantly lowered their arms.

The portal was gone; in fact, there was no sign of it ever being there.

In its place were five dizzy-looking, heavily-armed teenagers.

**Chapter 2 [Percy]**

**Dedicated to ItsOrbit, for being an all-around lovely person!**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. Therefore, I don't own any of his characters, storyline, settings, etc. I'm just a crazy fangirl who daydreams during algebra.**

**_Percy_ **

Percy had seen and done a LOT of weird things in his time as a demigod.

Scratch that. He’d done freaking IMPOSSIBLE things in his time.

But this was something else entirely.

After the freaky light-show thing ended, five teenagers-two girls, three guys, all about 15 years old-stood there in front of them, relaxing their grips on the wicked-sharp weaponry they were plastered with. The creepiest part was that they looked _really_ familiar. Like Percy knew them from somewhere, but he just wasn’t sure how.

He was about to ask them who they were and how in Hades did they get here, when Leo staggered forward. He seemed a little whacked out, and was blinking weirdly. Probably didn’t cover his face in time, and the lights had melted his corneas. Percy frowned a little at the thought. The Seven needed to be in top fighting condition if they were going to win this thing.

“Are you an angel?” Leo asked one of the girls. She was kind of pretty (Not even close to Annabeth’s level, in Percy’s eyes, but definitely cute), but he was fairly certain that angels didn’t have Converse, or wear skinny jeans and ratty t-shirts.

The brown-haired guy next to the girl opened his mouth to say something, but she elbowed him in the ribs and winked, smiling mischievously.

“Welcome to the Afterlife, Repair Boy.” She said solemnly. Again, she seemed really familiar. Percy was sure he knew her, but how?

“Whoa, Piper, you’re dead too?” Leo blinked a bit more, and his vision must have returned a little, because he said: “Why are you so blonde?”

The girl facepalmed, and muttered something under her breath in Latin, laughing lightly.

“I’m over here, Valdez.” Piper (the real Piper) stood behind him, leaning casually on Jason, trying hard not to laugh.

Leo spun around and looked at her in shock. Then he turned back to the other girl, who was trying valiantly not to smirk, and back to Piper.

“Oh.” He said, blushing slightly. “I totally knew that. I was just messing with you guys.”

“S u r e you were.” The blonde girl and Piper both muttered under their breath. They looked at each other, a little surprised, and shared devious grins.

Chiron was studying the newcomers warily, like they were stray cats that could need their rabies shots before being handled. As he watched them, his eyes grew slightly wider, like something about them surprised him.

“Um, sorry.” Percy said carefully. “But, um, who exactly are you? What are you doing here? What was that freaky portal thing? How did you know Leo’s nickname?”

Everyone turned to stare at the blonde girl, even her companions.

“Oh come ON guys!” she turned slightly pink. “Why do I have to explain this mess?”

“Cause this was your idea.” One of the guys said, laughing at the blonde girl’s discomfort. Percy had a sudden urge to defend her, but she was doing perfectly well on her own, sending him a death glare that he ignored, looking a little uncomfortable.

“No it wasn’t!” She protested, giving him an annoyed look, before sighing in defeat, and turning back to them. “Fine. Um….so….we’re…” She glanced at her friends. “They’re never going to believe us; you do know that, right?” The others shrugged, and she rolled her eyes.

“You want answers? Ok, fine. We’re from your future, and that portal thing was a gateway between our time and yours. “ 

**Chapter 3 [Jason]**

Jason’s jaw hit the floor when the blonde girl said that, and they all stared at her as if she had grown an extra head or something.

“Honestly…” The girl muttered. “After all they’ve done, time travel is just too much to handle? Seriously?!”

Something clicked in the back of Jason’s head. He had had a creepy feeling before, like he knew them from somewhere, and Jason suddenly realized why.

The blonde girl was almost an EXACT REPLICA of Annabeth, only her eyes were wrong. Instead of stormy gray, they were green.

Green like the ocean on a sunny day.

Green eyes like Percy’s.

The girl raised an eyebrow at him, and Jason realized his mouth was still hanging open. Glancing around, he realized he wasn’t the only one. Leo’s mouth was opening and closing randomly, and he looked kinda like a fish.

No offense intended to all of the fish in the world.

“As for who we are,” The Annabeth-Clone continued, despite the stares. “I think Jason’s figured it out already.”

Everyone turned to him, and Jason could feel them staring, but he was too busy watching the mystery teens. A Latino boy who looked like he should never, ever, under ANY circumstances, be trusted with spray cheese? Obvious Leo look-alike. Cocoa-skinned girl with faintly Asian features? Gotta be Frank and Hazel’s. A pale guy with shaggy black hair and brown eyes? Not entirely sure, but definitely familiar. And finally, a tan boy with floppy brown hair, and electric blue eyes.

No question in Jason’s mind, that HAD to be his son.

“Jason?” Piper asked softly. He looked at her, her brown hair the exact same shade as the boy’s.

Jason knew he was right.

“They’re our…our…our kids.” he said, rather lamely.

The rest of the Seven, stared at him in shock.

“You feel ok, bro?” Leo asked hesitantly. “You didn’t, like, eat anything weird? No poisoned apples or magic mushrooms, right?”

“Nah.” Said the mini-Leo. “It was the enchanted Oreos! Duh!”

Everyone rolled their eyes and ignored him.

Chiron stamped his hoof to get our attention. “Perhaps formal introductions are in order. If you please…” He nodded to the demigods, who claimed the impossible.

Leo Jr. jumped forward. “Awesome. Just wanna say, this is epicly weird, seeing you guys as teenagers. If we call you Mom or Dad or Aunt or Uncle or something, just try and ignore it. We’re just a really massively dysfunctional family.”

The Annabeth-Clone rolled her eyes. “They get it! Just tell them your freaking name!”

“Okay, okay! Don’t get your panties in a twist!” There were facepalms from the strangers. “My name’s Sammy Valdez. Fire User.” He lit his hand on fire, and Leo started jumping around like a five year old who got locked in a candy store all night.

“HA!!!” he yelled, pointing at Piper in triumph. “I WON’T be alone for the rest of my life! Take that, Beauty Queen!” He turned to “Sammy”. “Who is she? C’mon, you can tell your old man!”

“Sammy” rolled his eyes. “Nope. That could just screw up the future.”

“PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASSSSEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!?? Please please please please please please please please please please PLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!?!?!” Leo whined, trying to do puppy-dog eyes. He only ended up looking mildly constipated.

“No.”

“Just a hint?”

“Will you shut up if I give you one?”

“…Fine…”

“You’ve met her already.”

“YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Dad, stop dancing!”

Jason rolled his eyes at his best friend. He was spinning in circles and jumping around like a madman, and it was taking all my effort not to fall over laughing. Piper reached out and took his hand. Jason felt a spark of electricity run through him, and grinned slightly to himself. They got married! Had a kid! Possibly more than one!

The dark-haired boy nudged the girl who was obviously Frank and Hazel’s daughter. She glanced at him, a little confused looking. He made a few odd hand gestures, and she nodded.

“What was that?” Piper whispered in Jason’s ear.

He smiled down at her. “Not sure. Sign language, maybe?”

“’Sup, guys!” The girl said brightly. “I’m Emma Zhang, legacy of Pluto, Poseidon, and Mars. I got my dad’s shape shifting powers.” She turned into a tiger and back to prove her point. “Oh yeah, and, um.” She looked slightly sad. “I’m deaf. But I’m a good lip-reader, so if I can see you when you’re talking, I should be fine. And these guys can always translate it into sign language for me if we really need to.”

Frank’s jaw was practically in the dirt, but Hazel looked like she was going to start crying of happiness. If they were telling the truth, then she had survived, and had a daughter. She wouldn’t have to go back to the Underworld once our prophecy was over.

The weird goth kid stepped up next. Jason still couldn’t place him, but he was definitely familiar.

“Jake Di Angelo.” Di Angelo? Jason pondered it for a few seconds, and then it hit him. Nico. Yup, this kid was the spitting image of him, except his hair was a few shades darker than his father’s. 

“Legacy of Hades, and another, but like with Sam, I can’t tell you. Just in case.” He clicked his fingers, and a ghost-cat rose out of the ground. It jumped onto the map table and began licking itself. Jake gave my son a casual nod, and he shrugged boredly.

“My name’s Orion Grace. Legacy of Jupiter-“ He levitated the five of them a few feet into the air, and back down. “-And Aphrodite.” Jason felt Piper suck in a little gasp next to me, and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Orion waved a hand at the Annabeth-Clone, and a cloud of pink surrounded her. When we were able to see her again, she looked extremely beautiful, and extremely pissed off.

She wore a floor-length sky blue dress with no sleeves and a ridiculous amount of that poofy dress stuff-what’s it called, Toof? Taffe? Taffeta, that’s it. Her hair was in a half-up bun, and she wore a ton of makeup, without looking ridiculous.

“Really, Grace?” She spoke through gritted teeth, and the words were edged with ice. “I thought we agreed you would use Em for this, cause she at least doesn’t mind! Change me back! NOW.”

Orion looked a little scared, and Jason didn’t really blame him. That girl had a death glare worthy of Annabeth! He waved a hand, and the cloud engulfed her again, transforming the prom get-up into her old purple/orange tie dye t-shirt and jeans, with no makeup whatsoever and hair in a ponytail.

“Thanks, bro.” The girl said casually, and immediately they acted as if they had never fought. Weird. The girl turned back to us. “Sorry about that, my cousin can be a bit of an idiot if he wants to. I’m A.J. Jackson, so I guess my parentage should be pretty obvious, huh? I inherited my dad’s water powers and kelp-headedness and my _mom’s_ epic strategy planning for capture the flag.” The way she said _mom_ was a little bitter, like she didn’t like the memories the word brought up, but she was already demonstrating her water powers, so Jason didn’t have time to ponder it. She flicked a finger at the floor, and a jet of water shot up. Using hand gestures, she molded a blob of water into a cute little dragon, which then flew around, roaring and spraying fake flames everywhere. It landed on Leo’s shoulder, and gave a final roar, before dissolving into mist and floating down to the floor.

Jason had to admit, it was a pretty sweet trick. The details on the dragon were incredible, with little scales and spikes and everything! Percy looked like he was about to explode with happiness, but Annabeth just wasn’t convinced.

“Look, that was cool and all, but how are we supposed to know you aren’t very convincing agents of Gaea? Show us solid proof you ARE our children, and then I’ll fully believe you, and we can talk about why you’re here.”

“Jeez, Beth, give them a brea-“Percy started, but Annabeth cut him off.

“No! I will not, until I see proof! We’re fighting a war here, Seaweed Brain! We can’t believe people’s stories, no matter how cool we think it would be if they’re telling the truth!”

A.J. rolled her eyes. “We did bring proof, you know. I knew that mo-sorry, Annabeth wouldn’t take our words for it.” She slung her backpack on the table, and plunged her entire arm, up to her shoulder, rummaging around.

She noticed our shocked expressions and grinned. “Magic. We found them on a quest. They’re super helpful. You can put just about anything in there, and space is just about unlimited. Ah! Here we go!”

A.J. passed a lumpy tin-foil wrapped package to her father. He started to unwrap it, but Annabeth stopped him.

“What if it’s a trap? Or an explosive or something?”

The girl sighed. “If it WAS a trap, Leo would have been able to sense it! But if it really bothers you that much, I’ll do it.” She took the packet from Percy, and opened the top a bit before handing it back to him.

Percy glanced inside, and his jaw dropped wide.

**Chapter 4 [Annabeth]**

Annabeth seriously doubted the five’s story- they were servants of Gaea, obviously! Time travel isn’t even possible! Time is a straight line, you can’t ever go back. Even supposing it WAS possible, no one in their right mind would use it to travel BACKWARDS in time. They said it themselves; they could screw things up and ruin the future.

The five of them all seemed a little TOO much like the Seven for Annabeth’s taste. Sure, they seemed to think that they were their parents, but that shouldn’t make them act like Xerox copies! ‘Sammy’ acted just like Leo, ‘A.J.’ acted just like Percy. Annabeth figured that that was just too close to be normal. And their names- Sammy Valdez after Leo’s grandfather. Hazel had once told Annabeth on the way to Rome that she wanted two daughters- one named Marie, after her mother, and another named Emma, because she always loved the name. Orion Grace. A classic name, exactly what she’d expect Piper and Jason to pick. Gaea had obviously been doing her homework. Perhaps a bit TOO well.

But A.J.? Really, Gaea? Someone obviously didn’t put in enough effort on figuring out her ‘daughter’s’ name. Annabeth knew she would NEVER name her daughter anything as stupid as that. Something elegant, Liliana, maybe. Or Silena, after Silena Beauregard, one of her best friends who died during the Titan War last summer.

And there was something about A.J. that Annabeth…disliked. Immensely. Not like I-can-totally-sense-that-something’s-wrong-and-you’re-a-monster. More of an I’m-very-disappointed-in-you-young-lady feeling. It was probably just Gaea, messing with her head, trying to convince her that she were really her daughter.

Unfortunately for her, their tin-foil wrapped ‘proof’ seemed to completely convince Percy. And if Percy was convinced, so were the rest of them.

“Oh. My. Gods.” He was still staring at the package in shock. “You’re for real.”

Jason glanced over Percy’s shoulder, raising his eyebrows. “Cookies. You believe them because they brought you _cookies_.”

“Oh, no.” Percy said, grinning happily. “Not just _cookies_. These are my mom’s awesomely awesome blue chocolate chip cookies. Still warm, too! You want one?” He pulled one out, and held out the pack to Jason, who took it hesitantly. Seaweed Brain popped the whole thing in his mouth, and literally began groaning in pleasure.

“Eurgh.” Said our ‘daughter’. “Get a room already!”

“Come to the dark side! We have blue cookies!” said ‘Jake’ sarcastically. The others either snickered at that, or just rolled their eyes at him.

Hazel laughed with them. “If Percy’s sure that you’re for real, then I’ll believe him.” Frank nodded vigorously next to her. Jason handed them the cookie package, and they each took one. When they tried it, their eyes widened in shock.

“Oh Gods.” Frank choked out. “This is the best cookie I have ever eaten. You must have the coolest mom EVER, Perce.”

‘A.J.’ rolled her eyes. “Yup, Grandma Sally’s pretty awesome. If you still need more proof, I borrowed Riptide before we left. Its balance is a little off for me, but Dad felt it would completely solidify your belief in us, and I can use it if I really need to.” She pulled a cheap ball-point pen out of her pocket and uncapped it. It transformed into a celestial bronze sword-an excellent replica of Riptide.

Unfortunately for Annabeth, she was the only one who could see that it was fake. ‘Riptide’ had completely convinced the others, even Chiron.

She decided to just play along with them for now. Let them believe that she thought they were telling the truth, and when they slipped up, she would strike, revealing them as the spies she knew they were.

“So…” Jason cleared his throat. “Why are you here?”

‘Orion’ was the one who answered this time.

“Porphyrion has something we need to complete our quest with. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in the battle. We’re here to recover it before that can happen. We’ll help you fight, as well. Being from the future has its perks, like knowing the weaknesses of every single bane, and where you’ll need to concentrate your forces.”

Percy nodded eagerly, and Annabeth was mentally slapping him. How could they NOT see it was all trap?

“So, what exactly are we looking for?” Frank asked the spies.

“It’s called the μενταγιό των Ηρώων μέσα, or The Medallion of Heroes.”

**Chapter 5 [Hazel]**

First things first in Hazel’s mind. Percy’s mom made the best cookies she had ever tasted. Hazel wasn’t sure she was ever going to be able to look at another cookie in the same way again after tasting Sally Jackson’s chocolate chip heaven. It might even be better than her favorite shrimp gumbo, though her loyalty to the New Orleans specialty was pretty strong.

The second order of business Hazel’s brain wasn’t too sure about. On one hand, Emma’s being there gave her the security of knowing that she had survived the war, and that her spirit wouldn’t be recalled to the Underworld immediately after her role was played out. On the other, the idea of growing up and having a child (children?) was _terrifying_. All that additional pressure was not helping her worries about the battle that was to come. Hazel found herself unable to look at Frank, keeping her gazed fixed in fascination on her newfound daughter.

She had to admit, they did look quite a lot alike. Emma wasn’t the tallest in the group, but she wasn’t the shortest either. She stuck out a little, with her dark skin, but there was a definite sense of belonging in her graceful, almost dancer-like posture, settled in between Jake and Sammy. And though she obviously took after her mother (a concept Hazel was still a little uncomfortable about), there were subtle hints of well…Frank in her. Her eyes were softer, more cat shaped, and her long hair, while still curly, lay slightly straighter than Hazel’s ever did. It was unbelievably _weird_ to see her standing there, looking like the perfect mesh of the two of them, but at the same time, Hazel found it oddly comforting.

“The what?” Was echoed throughout the room when A.J. made her announcement.

“The Medallion of Heroes.” She repeated.

Chiron paled. He obviously knew what she was talking about, and he didn’t like it one bit. Annabeth must have noticed this too, because she hesitantly asked: “Chiron, are you alright?”

He nodded slightly. “It had been a long time since I have spoken of this, and most of what I know comes from legends. But if it is real, then it holds tremendous power, enough to destroy both of our armies in less than a second, and still have enough juice left to take out Olympus. I take it you know a bit more on the subject than I do, though?”

Emma—Hazel still couldn’t believe she was her daughter—was mouthing something to herself, like she was translating Chiron’s words to herself. After a minute or so, she nodded. “Er, ah, yeah. We do. Eight campers were taken captive by a very powerful monster, called The Black Knight. The only thing that can destroy him is the Medallion. We HAVE to beat him. At least two of the kidnapped ones are important to the next Great Prophecy, and we just _can’t_ let them die. Once we get back, we have twelve days. On the fourth day, he starts killing our friends, one by one, unless we stop him.” She paused to take a breath, and let them consider the weight in her words.

Hazel felt a sudden rush of guilt. It was their fault this was happening to them. The Seven were too powerful, and that made the monsters go after them with renewed vigor. They were stuck with this quest because of their selfish decision to have kids, even though they all knew it would put them in constant danger. Hazel tried putting it out of her mind. They were obviously used to questing, even seemed to kind of like it. The five of them worked together perfectly, as if they had been doing it for a long time, and knew each other as well as they knew themselves. Like they had been forced to trust the others with their lives before, and would feel safe doing it again. They were closer than friends, they were practically siblings. Quadruplets. None looked the same, and they obviously teased each other, but they all radiated the same message: This is my family. Hurt them, and I rip you to pieces. 

Di Immortales, Hazel needed to work on her powers of putting aside insignificant things in lieu of the more important.

Sammy took up the story. “The Medallion works by collecting, then channeling energy. This bit is a lot harder to understand, but-“

Orion butt in. “But Sammy’s a freaking tech geek, so he’ll be able to make it make sense to you guys.”

Sammy blushed slightly at the compliment. “Tech Geek? Really, Mr. I’m-the-grandson-of-the-god-of-the-sky-watch-me-levitate-you-ten-feet-in-the-air?”

Orion rolled his eyes. “Says the boy who turned my Xbox into a toaster!”

A.J. looked surprised. “He did that to yours _too_? Jeez, Sam, you really need a girlfriend or something!”

Orion and Jake laughed, and Sammy just stood there, blushing and waiting patiently waiting for them to shut up. Hazel noted a slight pink tinge on her own daughter’s cheeks, though she decided that maybe that detail could wait.

“Anyways.” He continued. “The basis of everything in the entire universe is energy. When gods show their true form, it’s just them reverting to a giant mass of energy. When demigods die, a certain amount of energy is released from their bodies, along with their spirit. The amount of energy varies by your godly parent. Children of the Big Three have larger energy releases, than, say, a child of Demeter. It’s also how monsters can sense demigods. Monsters are extra-sensitive towards energy, and that’s how they’re able to tell who’s a mortal, and who’ll make a nice dinner.

The Medallion of Heroes works like one of those awesome squiggly straws. It slurps up all of the excess energy that is released when a demigod or dies, and stores it. When activated properly, it will allow you to use the energy for whatever purpose you will. If activated wrong, though, it can kill you. Or worse. But, if you manage to make it work right, then you have the power to shape this world any way you like. A little energy goes a long ways. A small dose would be enough for A.J. to sustain a full blown hurricane around herself, or Jake could summon an entire skeletal army, for at least six hours straight, possibly longer.”

Everyone sucked in a collective gasp at that. Porphyrion had the medallion. He had the ability to access that power. If he knew how to activate it, Hazel knew that they were all doomed.

“On that happy note,” said A.J. cheerfully. “Your battle plans need to be edited. Mind if we help?”

**Chapter 7 [Reyna]**

Chiron called me back to the command pavilion, and when I got there, the Seven were completely re-staging our plans, with the help of five mystery teenagers. When I arrived, one of the mystery girls looked up.

“Oh, hi Reyna! Come on in, we’ve got loads to discuss.” She was pretty: blonde, tan skin, green eyes, and skinny with a slightly athletic build. Unlike her companions, she didn’t carry any obvious weaponry, but I could tell that I did NOT want to get into a fight with this girl. Everything about her radiated confidence and leadership. It was all very familiar, but from where, I wasn’t sure. And she already knew my name, but I suppose Chiron might’ve told her that already.

I hesitantly stepped into the tent. Why I was nervous, I had no idea. I’m _Roman_. I shouldn’t be afraid of anything!

“You called?” I differed to Chiron, who was clearly overseeing the process.

“Ah, yes.” He said, still watching the others as the blonde girl sketched out new lines on a map of the area. “These newcomers are, ah, here to help. They have intimate knowledge of our enemy’s movements, and are going to try and lessen our losses.”

Spies. Turncoats. The accusations ran through my head before I could stop them. They had been in Gaea’s army, and had ‘switched sides’. Maybe they had, and wanted to help us. Maybe they were here to destroy us.

“You might as well tell her.” Said one of the other teenagers. He was tall and pale, with black shaggy hair and dark brown eyes. He too, seemed exceptionally familiar. “She has the right to know who she’s trusting her army with.”

Chiron nodded. “Yes. I believe that to be a wise choice. Very well, Miss Reyna. The truth. ”

He went on to tell me some crazy story about how the five of them were actually the Seven and Nico Di Angelo’s children, from the future, here to help us, in exchange for help finding some artifact for a quest in their own time. What the artifact was, he wouldn’t tell me.

At first, I was completely skeptical. Time Travel? Oh, please. Don’t mock my intelligence.

But something about them just added up right, and it made perfect sense. Sammy clearly was Leo’s son. The looked the same, acted similar, and Sammy had Leo’s magic fire powers too. A.J. exuded leadership, just like her father did, and had the same brilliant strategy planning and looks as her mother. It was far too good of a replica for anything Gaea could have planned. They had to be for real.

As soon as I came to that conclusion, I realized just what we were getting. Not just five extremely well-trained, powerful soldiers. Not just knowledge of almost everything our enemies had planned for us.

But confidence.

You could see it on the other’s faces. This morning, they had been terrified, not knowing if they were going to make it out or not. Unsure of their every move. Now, they were more cheerful, motivated to win, excited to win. Because they had something worth living for. Families. Once this was over, they all survived. Had kids. Never had to worry about being sucked into another prophecy again.

I felt a pang of jealousy. I had nothing to look for, except more responsibility as praetor. They didn’t say if I had survived, had kids. Maybe it was part of their time travel thing. If I knew who I would end up with, it could re-write time, and drastically change our future. But still. Just knowing I made it our alive would be nice, though. I could worry about that later though. A.J. was destroying all of our plans and making completely new ones, carefully supervised by Annabeth.

You could obviously tell that Annabeth wasn’t A.J.’s biggest fan. She pointed out errors so small they should have been insignificant. A.J. politely thanked her each time, and fixed her mistakes, but I could see creases of frustration in the corners of her eyes. She was obviously upset about this cold treatment that Annabeth was giving her, even slightly…disappointed? Annabeth was supposedly her mom, after all. And now she was giving her a hard time, arguing with her on every point. A.J. really didn’t deserve to be treated like that. She was brilliant, and her battle strategy was nearly perfect, with very minor chinks in the armor.

Her entire plan was based on the Argo II, which would be used as a giant diversion. Put a skeleton crew on board, just enough to make it look like the Seven were attacking the minor Banes, who were arranged in the east. This was exactly what they were expecting, according to A.J., for us to take out the minor Gigantes first, and then move onto the more powerful ones.

Instead, she wanted the Seven to take a Cohort or half of the Greek Campers each, choosing the more powerful Banes to fight first. They would then split into platoons-but she wanted them organized differently. Instead of four toons of thirteen, plus one leader, she wanted six toons of nine soldiers and a leader. Then they would wreak havoc. One toon would be specially led by the Seven member assigned to their group. They would be hand-picked fighters, the best of the best. Their job was to cut down anything that got in their way, in order to get the Prophecy kid to the Banes alive.

Once the Seven made it to their Banes, the Argo II crew would start attacking the minor Banes. It would provide enough cover for the Seven to start attacking the major Banes before they could put up new defenses. Then the Seven could meet up and start taking down the Banes, before they could figure out that the Argo II was only a ruse.

There was only one flaw in the plan.

A.J. wanted HER crew to take the Argo II into battle.

And Annabeth just wasn’t having it.

**Chapter 7 [Percy]**

Everything was going great. Until A.J. and Annabeth started fighting over who should take the Argo II into battle against the Giants.

I really didn’t get it. Wasn’t A.J. supposed to be our _daughter_? Why did Annabeth dislike her so much? Why did A.J. act like this was somewhat normal for her? What were we all missing?

“Look, this is the only way that we’re going to win.” A.J. was trying to stay calm, trying to talk things out with Annabeth. It had been at least ten minutes, and neither of them would back down on the issue. “We ran simulations and everything. This is only ever going to work if we take the Argo II! The only other option results in you losing over half of both camps!”

“No.” Annabeth was in full on ice cube mode. Cold and unrelenting. “We met you just half an hour ago, and you just expect us to let you command our warship into battle? Are you crazy? How are we supposed to know that you aren’t going to just take it and attack us?”

“Fine.” A.J. snapped. She was fighting the urge to blurt out something angry and irreparably damaging; you could see it in her eyes. “But it’s your heads. Sammy and I are the only ones here other than Leo and Percy who could possibly fly that ship properly. And since they’ll be busy, it’s up to us.”

“Surely another Hephaestus kid knows how the ship works?”

“Nah.” Leo shrugged. “They helped build it, but I’m the one who programmed the master controls. Nobody else would know. I’m the only one who could fly her, unless you had some sort of godly control over boats like Percy does.”

Annabeth glared at him. “And what if you died? Then what? How would we ever be able to get it in the air?”

Leo looked a little surprised, as if the thought had never struck him. (It probably hadn’t.) “Okay, okay! Think positive! If our kids are here, then obviously I don’t need to write a freaking emergency manual! We make it out okay! With limited permanent brain damage!”

Annabeth kept glaring at him, but not as angrily as before. She had that calculating look on her face, like she was figuring out the best way to kill him and not get into trouble. I knew that look. Whatever she had in mind wasn’t going to go over well with the demigods.

“Fine.” She said at last. A.J. relaxed slightly. “Take the Argo II. Under one condition.”

My daughter groaned. “You and your conditions! What is it this time?”

“One of you stays behind, as...security. If anything goes wrong onboard, any _sign_ of a double crossing, and we kill them.”

Immediately, the others broke into protests, but oddly enough, our kids just stood there looking bored.

Chiron stamped his hoof loudly, and everyone shut up at once. “Annabeth, my dear, explain. Now.”

“How are we to know if they aren’t very convincing spies?!” She burst out angrily. I saw what this was all about in an instant. Her Hubris. She had created battle plans that she believed to be extremely good, only to have them knocked aside by some girl she’d never met and completely replaced. A.J. had never said anything against Annabeth’s plans, even using bits of them in her own. But Annabeth’s pride wouldn’t let her give anyone else the credit. “How do we know if we can truly trust them? Because cookies and Riptide aren’t exactly gonna cut it with me.”

More protests broke out. Jason was saying something about how they looked too much like us to be fakes, and Frank was muttering about Gaea not being able to make cookies that awesome.

A MASSIVE mountain lion randomly jumped up onto the table, and roared right in our faces, baring teeth the size of my forearms!

We wisely shut our traps.

The lion hopped off the table and walked over the five-wait, four? Then it transformed back into a teenage girl-Emma, using her gifts.

“Gods, you guys are even worse in the past.” Jake said, sounding slightly amused. “We accept your conditions. Actually, we expected nothing less, so we’ve already run the change through the battle simulator, each time subtracting a different one of us from the Argo II’s crew.” He glanced at his friends. “A.J. or Orion will stay. It’s the only way.”

“I’ll do it.” The two of them said at the same time. Then they glanced at each other. “No, you need to-“ They both facepalmed and muttered. “Heroes.” Under their breath.

“So, you wanna talk first?” They asked each other simultaneously.

“No, you go-“

“Argh, I hate it when this happens-“

Everyone else was struggling to keep from cracking up. They said every line together perfectly, like it had all been rehearsed. A.J. glared at Orion, daring him to speak with her. “It’s my turn to stay behind. Last time it was you, so I owe you one. End of discussion.”

Orion rolled his eyes and mumbled something about girls not making any sense. I privately agreed with him, but at the same time, was sort of relieved. She’d be here at our makeshift camps, safe from monsters.

Chiron sighed, a sigh that contained the weight of the universe. “If you’re sure, then I suppose that we can make arrangements. Reyna, would you inform the troops of our new plans?” She nodded. “And I should think that you have whatever you’ll need for the battle?” He asked our kids. They nodded boredly. “Very well then, heroes. Meeting adjourned.”

We all trooped out of the tent into the crisp late afternoon air. Reyna waved a casual goodbye, and took off at a run towards the forest of tents to spread the new plans to the centurions. Annabeth muttered something about needing to use the bathroom and walked off towards the Argo II. The rest of us stood around studying each other.

“Well, isn’t this awkward.” Orion broke the silence hesitantly. I laughed. It was beyond awkward. Meeting our kids when we’re only teenagers ourselves? Disturbing experience. But it was also very comforting, oddly enough. It meant we survived, got married, had kids! There was a future for us waiting; all we had to do was finish this stupid prophecy.

“NO, really?” Leo asked. “Let’s find somewhere to crash for a while, so we can interrogate the Hades out of you. I am GOING to find out who my wife is by the time you leave.”

Sammy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and I’m Aphrodite!”

**Chapter 8 [Piper]**

Oh. My. Gods.

Best. Day. Of. My. Freaking. Life.

This makes Jason and I's first kiss look like having your goldfish die!! We get _married_!!!!!!! Orion seems like he's really cool too, and not totally embarrassed by his parents- _US_!!!!!!

 _Okay, okay,_ I thought to myself. _Chill with the overexcited Aphrodite girl thoughts. Be happy, just not too happy._

My conscious had other plans. Screw you, rationality! PARTY!!!!!!!

_Ooooooh, gossip sesh time!!!_

_Mo-om! Get out of my thoughts!_

_Oh, really, Piper. You're no fun. Besides, you and Jason are ah-dorable together!! Not quite Helen and Paris like Percabeth. Maybe Andromeda and Perseus? Those two were so cute!_

_Seriously-wait, what's Percabeth?_

_Percy and Annabeth. Honestly, sweetie! Don't worry though. You'll be just as happy as they are someday._

_What about Reyna? I know she still kinda likes Jason and-_

_Piper. What do you say? Take a chill pill? Reyna will be sorted out eventually. Trust me on this one._

_If you're sure, then....Bye mom._

_Bye, love._

Leo was leading us over to a small patch of woods that bordered our camp. We all agreed that it would be the best place to hold a private conversation, away from the other campers. He had a very determined look on his face, which sort of scared me. Last time I saw that look-well, stuff didn't exactly end well.

I drifted over towards Jason, looping my fingers with his when we were close enough together.

"Hey." I whispered casually. "So. What do you think of them?" I nodded towards the new demigods, who were walking close together. Orion was having a deep-looking conversation with A.J. and Jake, who both seemed slightly worried, but nodded along anyways. Hopefully it wasn't anything too bad. Maybe they're just worried about what would happen if Leo goes crazy on them and threatens to feed them to Festus if they don't tell him who Sammy's mom is.

Jason sighed. "I don't know. I believe them completely though. It just seems to fit, you know? And the whole Orion thing..." he looked at me shyly, and I could feel heat creeping up my cheeks. "I don't know. It's just really weird, and awkward. But it's nice, at the same time. To have hope. To know we get out of here alive and that the camps don't try and kill each other once this mess is over."

I nodded. "I've just got so many questions. Hopefully they can answer some of them. It's hard, not knowing what's going to happen next, when they could tell us everything."

"Yo! Lovebirds! Over here!" Leo was flagging us down from a small clearing in the woods, where the others were already standing, waiting for us. When had we gotten so far behind?

When we finally made it to the woods, the others were seated around a mini-campfire, already chatting away. Leo was on his knees, begging and pleading with our kids, who just laughed and refused to tell him who his future bride was.

"Wow. You guys suck. We obviously screwed up as parents." He said, sitting back on his log-chair-thing.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Sorry man. We'd tell you, but this is time travel we're messing with. Bad things could happen. Plus, it's way more funny watching you try and figure it out."

Leo groaned a bit more, while Jason and I got settled on the log next to him. The sky was starting to get darker, pale blue fading into more Royal shades at the very horizon. We didn't have much longer, two and a half hours at best.

"Okay." Percy looked like a seven year old on sugar high. "Question time. Maybe we go in a circle or something?" The others nodded in approval. "Me first then! How do I look in the future? I'm not bald, right?!?!"

A.J. laughed. "No, that would be creepy. You had a beard when I was little, but nobody took you seriously, so you got rid of it."

I doubled over cracking up, trying to imagine Percy with a beard. Leo was laughing so hard that he fell off the log into a pile of mucky leaves. Ew.

Argh!!!! Prissy Aphrodite thoughts!!!! What I really meant was...leaves. Yay, leaves.

"Okay. My turn." Frank looked thoughtfully at his boots. "How many years in the future are you from anyways? You never said."

Jake shrugged. "Twenty-sixish? We're from 2037." Whoa. That seems like forever, but I guess not. I'd only be like forty one...

"Hmm..." Hazel studied them carefully. "Ages and birthdays? I can't really tell. You could be anywhere from fourteen to sixteen."

Jake took the question again. "A.J., Orion, and I are all fifteen; Sam and Em are both fourteen. Weirdly enough, we all have the exact same birthday. April 27th. A.J.'s the oldest, then Orion, then me, then Em and Sam's the youngest."

Same birthday? . Even as demigods, that's majorly weird.

Leo was bouncing up and down. "TELL ME WHO I MARRY!" He yelled in their faces.

"Ew. Say it, don't spray it, bro." A.J. wiped spit out of her face. "As for who you marry....it's...it's" He leaned in closer, hanging onto her every word. "A GIRL!"

Leo pouted. "I hate you."

She shrugged. "Join the queue."

Jason was next. "Er...um...Hang on a sec, I was totally unprepared for this...um...Does everything work out okay between the camps?"

Sammy nodded. "Yeah. You can choose your camp actually, whatever is easiest for you. A lot of the kids at Camp Jupiter are Greeks who live on the West Coast, and don't want to have to go back and forth every summer. There's a system of ambassadors-"He waved at his purple/orange tie dye shirt. "-who rotate through the camps for two year terms. They keep relationships between the camps stable, bring news and stuff. We all served a term a couple years ago. It's dead boring, really. You get dragged along to all these lame meetings, have to make important decisions, and hardly ever get to see your friends."

Jason nodded eagerly, clearly wanting to talk about this more, but I cut him off. I really didn't want a lecture on the Greek/Roman politics. Bor-ing.

"Okay then...ah, siblings? Names, ages, who they look like. That sort of thing." Mom would be so freaking proud of me right now, talking about families and relationships and crap.

_I'm always proud of you, sweetie._

_...Thanks mom. TTYL, okay?_

_Sure thing._

Emma puffed out her cheeks and let out a long breath. "Well. This is going to take a while. Who wants to go first?"

Jake shrugged. "I will."

A.J. glared at him. "Unfair! You're an only child, and I get to explain about all of my siblings!"

He stuck his tongue out at her. "Yeah, so, like, A.J. said, only child. Easy enough. Sam, you're next."

Sammy sighed. "What's there to say, really? I've got an older sister, Esperanza, who joined the Hunters when she was twelve, so I never get to see her, except for like Christmas. She looks like Mom, I guess. Oh, yeah, and two younger brothers, Julian and Alexander. They're seven and five. Oreo next."

A chorus of "Huh?"s came from us Seven. Well, six, 'cause Annabeth was still in the bathrooms.

Orion looked super embarrassed. He mumbled something about stupid nicknames, which made the others laugh even harder.

Emma took a deep breath. "Okay. Oreo is Orion's bizarre inside joke nickname. He eats Oreos really really awkwardly, so now it's his permanent nickname."

"Awkwardly?" A.J. panted out between bursts of giggling. "Are you kidding me? It scarred us! Jake and I couldn't look at him for weeks afterwards without busting out laughing!"

"Yeah, yeah." Orion blushed. "I get it! Anyways, I've got triplet older brothers, who are possibly the most annoying people ever. Dakota, Tristan, and Gleeson. They're all eighteen and are like replicas of dad."

I groaned out loud. Four boys? Come ON. I really really really always wanted to have a daughter, not a house full of boys! Everyone stared at me weirdly.

"Sorry! I just sort of always wanted a daughter! No offense, Orion."

"With my brothers, I honestly don't blame you one bit. Em, you're up." He signed a bit with his hands, and Emma nodded.

"I've got an older sister in the Hunters too, Marie. She looks like me, but her eyes are more brown than gold. Have fun, A.J."

The girl groaned, putting her head in her hands. "It's like the universe is picking on me right now! I've got six siblings."

Our jaws dropped. SIX??? Percy sat in a state of total shock. I would be too. Being told that you're going to have seven kids isn't exactly the kind of news to be taken lightly.

A.J. continued, despite our shock. "Well, technically it's five. One's adopted, but he honestly fits in better than I do. So, oldest to youngest. Luke's eighteen, looks like dad but with mom's eyes. Before you ask, yes, he IS Luke Castellan reincarnated. He's also got the gift of prophecy, and is going to take over as Auger for Camp Jupiter next spring, when the old Auger retires." She paused to let us take that in. Percy looked even more shocked, but also slightly happy. Whoever this Luke kid was, he must have been close to Percy.

"Liliana's my older sister. She joined the Hunters with Ranza and Marie. Looks like dad with mom's eyes too. Then there's me, and my twin brother, Perry. But he, um, y'know, died. It was a long time ago though, so I barely remember him." She looked at her hands, and scraped a hand across her eyes. When she looked up again, her eyes were tinged slightly red and her attempts to keep a straight face weren't working out too well.

Percy looked like he was going to start sobbing. He had gained a daughter and lost a son in the space of a few hours. Hazel stood up and quickly switched seats with Frank. She gently patted Percy on the back, whispering something kindly to him.

"Oh, man. I'm really sorry, Perce." Leo looked slightly shocked.

Percy nodded, tears dripping down his cheeks. "How?"

A.J. gulped, crying herself. "I...don't know...I was really little, only like four...One minute he was there, the next, he was...gone..."

There was a long awkward silence, with everybody crying for her lost brother. Leo summoned a box of Kleenex from his tool belt and we passed it around, wiping away tears.

A.J. took a shaky breath. "Next youngest is Lee. He's adopted and a fifth generation Legacy of Athena, so he fits in with my other siblings perfectly, always going off about architecture. He's twelve."

"Silena and Charlie are the youngest. They aren't actually Beckendorf and Silena, just named after them. Charlie looks like Mom, same eyes too, and Silena's got the whole Dad with Mom's eyes thing. Silena's going to take over as the next Oracle of Delphi from Aunt Rachel when she's thirteen. They're ten right now."

Everyone stared at the ground, still miserable because of her long-dead brother.

"Okay." Sammy said. "Happy thoughts, people! Moping is not going to get us anywhere!"

Percy glared at his sneakers. "I'll pass this round."

"Ooooooh!! I'll go!!" Leo was all bouncy again, completely forgetting about their sadness. I swear, that boy got a double dose of ADHD when he was little. He's ridiculous. "Tell us about your adventures!"

"Our what?" A.J. looked slightly surprised.

"Your adventures." He dragged out the syllables of 'adventures', like he was talking to a small child. "Y'know, quests, monster fighting, battles, epic swordfights of doom! That kind of adventure!"

I mentally prayed to every god I could think of that they would say that this was their first quest, but I got the feeling it wasn't. They were too trained, too confident for this to be their first.

"Oh joy." A.J. said sarcastically. "Another subject I don't want to talk about."

"Oh gods." Hazel was covering her mouth with her hands. "How bad is it? How many quests?"

The five of them were suddenly very interested in their shoes, pointedly avoiding the question.

"What's the number that will cause you to panic the least?" Jake asked, as if he was talking about the weather.

"Dude, not helping." Percy said coldly. "Tell us the truth. How. Many. Quests." He had a scary light in his eyes, both powerful and sad at the same time. Almost...remorseful? As if what our children had to go through was entirely his fault.

"Ummmm...Promise not to freak?" A.J. said hesitantly. We stared at her. "Well then...er, give me a sec." She tapped her fingers on her leg, mouthing words to herself, like she was counting. That really scared me. She couldn't even remember how many quests they had been on off the top of her head? How many had then been on?

A.J. took a deep breath, as if steeling her nerves against the onslaught of protests she knew would come from us.

"Um...Including this one...sort of...Ten?"

**Chapter 10 {jason, percy]**

Ten. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods.

Percy’s only been on seven. I’ve only been on five myself. The most powerful demigods of the age, and we don’t even come _close_ to their number.

What have we done?

The minute A.J. said ten; Percy leapt to his feet, and stormed out of the clearing, cursing violently in Greek. Hazel turned to follow him, but Piper grabbed her arm.

“No.” she used a tiny bit of charmspeak, just enough to keep Hazel in place. “Let him go and vent. We’ll catch up with him later.”

Hazel nodded reluctantly, and sat back down.

Jake was glaring at A.J. “You could have lied, you know. Said three, or something.”

“Oh.” A look of dawning realization flickered across her face. “I, um; yeah, really didn’t consider that. Sorry bro.”

Piper cracked a grim smile. “Wow. You are _so_ like your dad.”

A.J. sighed. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“Sooooo….?” Leo looked completely oblivious to our anger and shock at the sheer number of quests they had been on. “Tell us about them!”

Jake looked at him coldly. “No. I don’t think we will, even if we could.”

“Okay, dude. Don’t need to go all angry ninja on me.” Leo held up his hands in a gesture of peace, looking slightly disappointed.

Emma kept glancing back and forth between them, making sure they were done talking before she spoke. “Subject change. Now would be nice.”

_**Percy.** _

No.

 _No_.

 **NO**.

This is my fault. All my fault. My daughter’s stuck in a death trap because of me.

I’m the worst parent ever.

Ten prophecies. _Ten prophecies_.

 _ **I**_ haven’t even been on ten prophecies, and I’ve almost died so many times. It’s a miracle she made it to fifteen.

I lost it when she said Ten, and stormed out as fast as I could. Hazel tried to follow me, but Piper stopped her, telling her to let me go and vent.

My son-of-the-sea-god senses kicked in. Nearest river was half a mile away, on the other side of the forest. I took off at a run, losing myself in pounding footsteps. When I finally reached the river, I let myself fall right in, and let my rage out.

Water swirled and rushed around me, a massive hurricane forming above my head. I punched out both my fists, and the water rose higher and higher, forming swirling columns above my head, and let them slam right back into the river.

When I had finally let it all out, I surfaced and hopped out of the river, nearly falling right back in. Annabeth sat on a rock near the edge, dripping wet.

“Hey, Seaweed Brain!” She said. “Dry me off, would you? We need to talk.”

**Chapter 10 [annabeth]**

I wasn’t actually going to the bathroom, of course. I needed some time alone to think and plan about what I was going to do to expose them as spies.

I stood in my ensuite bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror. Gods of Olympus, A.J. looked like me. I hesitantly smirked, and it looked like I was watching her.

Gaea’s got a really good plastic surgeon hidden somewhere.

I ran a hairbrush through my hair, pulling into a slightly less messy ponytail, running tactics through my head.

A.J. was obviously going to try and escape when we left her behind in camp, so we’d have to post a guard, and completely duct tape her up. I’d have to get Leo to build one of those portable metal sweepers they use at airports, to make sure that she didn’t have any weaponry on her, and figure out a way to keep Riptide from returning to her pocket. Or just duct tape her pocket closed. That stuff sticks really well to denim, she’d never be able to get it off.

I walked out of my bathroom, and immediately whipped out my knife. There was a man with salt-and-pepper hair, like Percy’s stepdad Paul’s, wearing a running suit and carrying a cell phone with two snakes wrapped around it reclining casually against my desk. I hesitantly lowered my weapon.

“Lord Hermes?”

“Annabeth.” He studied me carefully, then went back to something on his phone. “Nice to see you again. Lovely work on my temple, by the way.”

“Um…thank you. Why are you here?”

He sighed. “I have a message from your mother.”

I nodded. I expected this, for her to tell me there was something wrong with the new demigods. If I had a goddess backing me up-the goddess of wisdom, no less-then the others would have to see that I was right.

“She wants you to know that the gods will be there when you call upon them, and that she is very proud of you for making it this far.”

“Anything else?” I asked, disappointed. What if the gods didn’t know about the traitors?

“Yes, but this part really doesn’t make much sense. She says that A.J. is hiding something from you all, and that when you find out, you aren’t going to like it much. Your mother wants to tell you what it is in person, but she can’t, for fear of another. Also, Jackson will have to make a hard choice after this battle-you or the world. He may very well put your life into the five’s hands, so try not to make them hate you too much. His decision whether or not to trust them will change the course of the entire war.”

I knew it. I knew it; I knew it, I KNEW IT. She’s hiding something. She’s a spy. All I have to do is get a confession out of her. I can play nice with the other demigods; not even bother trying to trick them. They’ll go back to Gaea when they’re ‘rescuing me’, and I’ll finally have proof.

“Thank you.” I said, truly meaning it. He had given me the perfect opportunity to reveal them. “I should really get back to the others now.”

“Hmmm?” Hermes glanced up from his phone, where he had been playing Angry Birds the whole time. “Oh. Yes, of course. Good luck.” He went supernova, and I quickly looked away, golden light searing through my eyelids.

When I looked back, he was gone. I grabbed an extra knife, jamming it in my back pocket, and throwing a canteen of nectar into my backpack.

I took one last look around my cabin. I’d see it again, one way or another, so I turned and ran out of the room, to get back to the others before the start noticing that I’ve been ‘going the bathroom’ for so long.

When I disembarked, I ran right into Chiron. Literally, ran into him. I _oof_ ed as the air rushed out of my lungs, and I staggered backwards.

“Annabeth.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Walk with me. I should like your opinion on something.”

So I’m not alone. Thank the gods for Chiron.

“Yes, of course!” I said, perhaps a bit too eagerly.

We walked off through the scrubland on the outskirts of the north edge of our camp.

“Do you really think it wise, imprisoning a fighter like A.J.?” he asked abruptly.

Crap. He doesn’t think they’re spies. He thinks I’m just a mad jealous girl. I was, a bit. A.J.’s plans were very good, I couldn’t have done better personally, and I _was_ angry for not coming up with them myself.

“I don’t trust them.” I said simply. Better not make him too worried about it though. “Yet. Her friends are more likely to behave if one of them is captive.”

Chiron studied me carefully, his powerful old hazel eyes boring into me. “You’re scared.” He decided. “Scared that she might be telling the truth, and that you have a daughter who is not like you. You want your kids to be how you want them to be, so your own Mother will not destroy them to punish Percy for being with you.”

He sighed and looked over the plains, towards the smoky camp of our enemies. His words shocked me. Yes, I was upset that “my daughter” wasn’t like me. But she WASN’T my daughter, how could no one see that!?! They were _spies_ , clever replicas.

“I don’t care.” I said stubbornly. “I’m not going to trust them until I know for sure that they’re telling the truth. I mean, really, Chiron! Time travel! It’s so farfetched! I can’t help but think Gaea is behind all of this!”

He nodded, looking distraught. “If you insist, then she will remain behind. But I warn you, this could drastically affect the outcome. They are powerful fighters, that much is obvious, and we need all the manpower possible. You should return to the others. Do not tell them what we spoke of; they will take much of it the wrong way.” He turned and galloped off, leaving me alone on the plains.

The others had been heading towards the patch of forest on the western border, so I set off in that direction, lost in thought over Chiron’s cryptic advice. He was right about my distaste over A.J. I didn’t want a daughter like that. I wanted my kids to be _normal_ , not reckless questers! She was nothing like me. She couldn’t be my real daughter; I would have made sure she wasn’t like that, to protect her. Gaea got it wrong, again. It was another blow against their subterfuge, another strike I could use to shatter their plot.

I reached the forest, and followed the laughter. They were seated around a campfire, laughing at some stupid story Orion was telling. Something about the time that he and A.J. and some other kid whose name I didn’t catch turned the Ares cabin into a copy of the Aphrodite cabin.

I stepped into the firelight, and A.J. glanced up.

“Hi Annabeth!” She said brightly. “Come and join us!”

I ignored her. “Where’s Percy?”

Everybody’s faces darkened. “Not entirely sure. I would try the river on the other side of the forest though.” A.J. pointed west. “He’s had a bit of a shock, we were going to leave him alone to let him vent.”

Well, that’s different. “What kind of shock?” I asked hesitantly. “In-the-future-you’re-dead shock or My-daughter’s-been-cursed-with-really-bad-luck shock?” He would take the second one worse, I knew that much. Percy would never be able to forgive himself if our kids had to go on as many quests as he did.

“Um…Bad luck shock.”

Crap. “I’ll go talk to him.” I need to run Hermes’s and Chiron’s messages past him anyways.

She nodded. “Just…tell him it’s not his fault.”

I shrugged, knowing that wouldn’t really have any effect on him. He would keep blaming himself. Stupid fatal flaw. Then I walked off in the direction A.J. had indicated, following the sounds of an incoming hurricane.

He was in the river, looking immensely pissed off, a storm brewing above his head. I knew better than to interrupt him, so I plunked myself down on a rock, to wait out the storm.

Big mistake. He ended up making it rain all over the place, and I got drenched. Since I was soaked, there was no real reason to move out of the way, so I just sat there and let the waves of water rush over me. The water was icy cold, and I’d probably end up with pneumonia, but who cares? There were more important things right now. I could live with a cold.

Eventually, the waves started dying off, bursts of water coming less and less frequently. He started to surface, and I flicked my soggy hair out of my face. Finally.

I must have startled him, because as soon as he saw me, he nearly fell right back into the water, slipping on a dripping wet stone.

“Hey, Seaweed Brain!” I yelled, waving down at him from my perch on the boulder. “Dry me off, would you? We need to talk.”


	2. Chapters 11-20

**Chapter 11 [Percy]**

Oh crap.

She ‘wants to talk’.

This isn’t going to be fun for me, I can already feel it.

Annabeth took a deep breath, flipping her now-dried hair out of her eyes. “What made you so pissed?”

Great. Just freaking great. Naturally, I ignored the question. “Apparently we have seven kids.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “SEVEN? You have to be kidding me.”

I shook my head. “Nope. Two sets of twins, two singles and one adopted. Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Prophecy of the Seven, Seven kids?”

She shrugged. “Sure. So, you don’t want that many, and you start a hurricane? That’s weird, even for you, Seaweed Brain.”

I got the feeling that she already knew part of the real reason I was so angry, but I said it anyways. “A.J.’s only fifteen, and she’s been on ten quests.”

Annabeth’s jaw fell, and she seemed to choke on her words. “I…oh…wow…she…She only told me that she had horrible luck.”

Horrible luck!? Biggest understatement ever. “All of them have. Been on the quests together, I mean.”

Annabeth sighed. “She says that you shouldn’t blame yourself for it. I think A.J. and I both know that it’s a lost cause, though.”

I stared down at the water. “Of course it’s my fault.” I said bitterly. “I have bad luck, she has bad luck, and our whole damn family is going to have bad luck! Her little sister’s going to be the next Oracle, her older brother’s going to be Auger of Camp Jupiter, AND he’s Luke reincarnated…and her…her... her twin brother’s dead.”

She sat there, slightly shocked. “Percy.”

“And don’t bother telling me it’s not my fault!” I was fighting back tears by now. “Because it is! Because of me, she’s going to be miserable!”

Annabeth shook her head. “No. No, she’s not miserable. She’s with her friends, she trusts them, and she’s genuinely happy. That girl doesn’t blame you even a tiny bit for what she’s had to do.” She looked like she almost believed in it, but something was holding her back. A darkness in her eyes, a secret she wasn’t sharing.

I took a deep breath. “Was that it? Because we should get back to the others if it was.”

Annabeth looked like she was steeling her nerves for something. “I met with Hermes. He had a message from Mom.”

“Let me guess. She doesn’t want me within ten feet of you?”

She laughed, surprising me. “Nah, not this time. I’m kind of surprised that she didn’t, considering A.J. being here! No. She wanted to let us know that the gods will be there when we call for them.”

“That it?” Why send Hermes for such a boring message?

“No.” Her gray eyes bored into mine. “He also said that A.J. is hiding something from us. Something important. And…that you were going to have to choose after this fight. I think he meant between me and the world. The five of them, they’re supposed to be influential to your decision and your decision whether or not to trust them will change how this all ends.”

Wonderful. I get my stupid flaw tested. “A.J. could be hiding anything. She won’t tell us who Nico or Leo end up with, or anything about their quests. But I think the quests thing is to keep us all from having heart attacks before we save the world.”

Annabeth sighed. “I know, but it’s not helping me trust them.”

“So you’re still going to leave A.J. at camp, under guard, instead of letting her help?” It was a harsh accusation, but really, she wanted to leave the girl behind?

Annabeth picked at her nails. “Yes. I know that none of you like it, but I’m just _not_ willing to trust them yet. Let them prove themselves in this battle. If they do, then I’ll trust them, and let A.J. fight later.”

“There may not be a later, Wise Girl.” I said quietly.

She looked at me, exasperated. “Hermes said ‘after this battle’ you get to make a choice. _After this_ _battle_ , Percy. There will be a later; you just have to believe in it.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. She had a point, I guess, but really, I don’t see why she can’t trust them already. I’ve seen more than enough to prove that they’re for real. Maybe it was an Athena thing, needing really solid evidence before trusting anyone.

“You ready to go back?” she asked softly. I shrugged, and we stood. Annabeth turned to go, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her in for a kiss. When we parted, I probably had the biggest, dorkiest smile _ever_ plastered across my face.

“What!?” she said, laughing at my face.

“Eh, it’s nothing. Just thinking that I get to do that for at least the next twenty-six years.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Seaweed Brain.” She muttered, but didn’t bother fighting when I kissed her again.

**Chapter 12 [piper]**

**Time Lapse**

**_Piper_ **

Half an hour till sundown, and we were making our final preparations for the battle. Annabeth was getting ready to duct tape A.J. to a chair, Sammy and Leo were doing some final system checks on the Argo II and Octavian was trying really hard to kill my boyfriend. Y’know, just your average pre-war stuff.

“I will NOT be led by that _traitor_!” Octavian was yelling, waving a purple dragon with its belly ripped open in Jason’s face. “The Auguries are all WRONG! We’ll be **DOOMED**!”

His little hissy fit was about Percy leading the first cohort, which he was usually in charge of.

Jason sighed in frustration. “Look, Octavian-“ He was cut off by Octavian holding his knife against his throat.

“No.” he said coldly. “I will lead the first cohort. As it should be.”

You _don’t_ threaten _my_ boyfriend. Ever. I marched over to Octavian, hands balling into fists.

“Look, Octopus-“

“Octavian! How hard is it for you _Greeks_ to say Octavian?! It’s Ock-tay-vee-an!”

“Whatever. Look, Octomom-“

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Now shut up and let me talk.” I let a tiny tendril of charmspeak into that, just enough to keep him silent. “Percy is, and always will be, a better leader than you. He may not have your respect, but he has everyone else’s, and that’s what counts here. That, and he completely outranks you.” 

Octavian smiled wickedly. “Not anymore. He gave up his praetor ship to Grace here.”

Jason stepped up next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Yeah. And now I order you to stand down, because I _really_ do outrank you. You won’t be participating in this battle. You can stay behind, and help out the medics.”

Octavian’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

“You’ll stay behind to help the wounded.”

Octavian glared at us. And glared. And glared. We didn’t move.

“Fine. But when you need a sacrifice to call on the gods, don’t come running to me.”

I rolled my eyes. “We don’t need a sacrifice, Octosoup! The gods are with us already!” Annabeth had told us about the message from Hermes, and how the gods were preparing for war as well.

He sneered in disgust. “So you think. Prove to me that they will answer your bidding, like common animals.”

The sky rumbled, and I glanced around desperately, as Octavian knelt and mumbled something under his breath in terror. I met A.J’s gaze from where she sat on a boulder behind Octavian with Orion and Emma. She winked at me, and held out a hand, concentrating on the ground. I knew what I had to do.

“Easy.” I said confidently, holding out my hand, palm down, mimicking A.J’s action. “I summon the power of Posei-“ The ground between us and Octavian erupted with waterfall of freezing water, blasting Octavian straight in the face.

I was lucky enough to have a few second’s warning, and jumped backwards just in time. Jason got hit with the blast, but luckily only a small portion of it was coming in our direction. I pulled him out of the way, and we watched as Octavian got hosed, clawing and kicking and screaming against the spray. It eventually petered out, and he dropped to the ground, muttering prayers and curses in Latin.

Behind him, Orion gave A.J. a triumphant knuckle bump, and the three of them almost fell off their rock laughing. There was a slight cool anger in A.J.’s and Emma’s expressions, and also a bit of fulfillment of destiny. Whatever that was about would have to wait. We had bigger problems right now.

Octavian stared at me in shock. “You…you…just…”

I smiled sweetly at him, channeling my inner Aphrodite innocence. “Yes?”

He kept staring, and muttering under his breath. Then he snapped to attention. “You will pay for this, little _graecus_. You will-“

“ _I_ didn’t do anything.” I laughed slightly. “ _That_ was Poseidon, Octonoodle. You really wanna take revenge on the god of the seas? Hmm?”

He glared at me. “Very well. I will _assist the medics_.” He turned and stormed off, still dripping wet, repeatedly stabbing his dragon, cursing at it in Latin.

Orion slid off the boulder, and helped Emma down from her perch. He offered a hand to A.J. as well, but she ignored it and back flipped off the rock, landing gracefully beside them. They strolled over to us, still snickering.

“Was that Octavian?” Emma asked.

I nodded. That was Octavian alright.

“Good.” A.J.’s smile widened. “I thought it was him, with his stupid weasel face. I’ve wanted to do that for a _very_ long time.”

“Why?” Jason asked, a little surprised that our grudge would carry over to our kids.

“He, his wife, and his daughters…our families and theirs? Not the greatest of friends.”

“He has children!?” I asked in shock. I did NOT want that boy’s genes in the breeding pool, thank you VERY much.

“If you can call them that.” A.J. said darkly. I shuddered slightly. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” She had notice that Jason was still soggy, and stretched out a hand to his shoulder tentatively, glancing at me. I nodded, having seen Percy do that to others before. A.J. carefully laid a few fingers on his arm, and closed her eyes in concentration. Immediately the water drained off my boyfriend, soaking into the ground. As soon as he was dry, she moved her hand away from him and stepped back.

“Better?”

“Much, thank you.” He looked relieved at not having to go into battle sopping wet.

Annabeth appeared around the next tent over. “We’re ready for you.” She told A.J. coldly, and then stalked back in the direction of the command pavilion.

A.J. sighed sadly. “She’s really going through with this.”

We walked off in Annabeth’s direction, A.J. looking like she was being sent to her execution.

“But I think you’ll love to know who Octavian marries…remind me to tell you later.” She muttered under her breath as we re-entered the pavilion, where everyone stood waiting for us.

**13 - no pov**

A.J. stood in the center of the room, staring at the plain metal chair like it was going to grow fangs and eat her alive. Annabeth stood to the chair’s left, smiling coldly, a roll of duct tape (an essential tool for all demigods) pushed onto her wrist like a bracelet. The remainder of the Seven stood ringed in a semicircle behind her, looking uncomfortable. 

“Ready?” Annabeth asked A.J. with soft ice in her voice.

A.J. glanced casually behind her to her friends. Emma had her arms tucked around her body, hands curled into small fists, Sam draping one arm around her waist. Orion nodded firmly to her when they made eye contact, and her posture straightened slightly, confidence restoring, and Jake only shrugged. Knowing that it was the best response she would get out of him, she turned around.

“Sure. Let’s just get this over with.”

She knelt, pulling a knife out of each of her shoes, stabbing them into the table. Then she stood, and chucked Riptide on the table.

“You do know that will return to my pocket, right?”

Annabeth shrugged, and handed her a strip of tape. “Seal it shut.”

A.J. slapped the tape over her pocket and continued to disarm herself. A short sword came out of a sheath strapped to her back, and two more knives came out of her sleeves. Then she tossed her magic purple backpack on the table, and stood bouncing awkwardly on her feet.

Annabeth turned to Leo. “Sweep her.”

Leo walked over to A.J., holding a long metal rod with a thick handle. “So, this is-“

“I know what it is.” She said. “Just sweep me.” She held out her arms, making a T with her body.

Leo looked slightly surprised at her cooperation, and began running the scanner up her body. Her legs and waist passed without a fault. At her stomach, it bleeped, and he raised an eyebrow.

“Ummm…you wanna get that one?” he asked awkwardly.

A.J. stared at her stomach, a bemused expression flashing across her features. Then a sudden look of realization hit her face, and she smacked her forehead.

“Oh gods, I’m sorry, I completely forgot!”

“You… _forgot_.” Annabeth looked triumphant. “You _forgot_ about a weapon. Uh-huh.”

A.J. sighed in frustration. “Not a weapon! My belly button ring! I forgot I had it in.” She put her hand up her shirt, and withdrew it holding a small silver loop set with a medium green stone and two smaller whitish ones. She tucked it into the front pocket of her pack, and stepped away.

Annabeth looked completely shocked, and for a moment, she lost her cold, collected demeanor. “We let you get your belly button pierced!?! How old are you again!?”

“Oh….”A.J. glanced down awkwardly. “Er, ah, Fifteenth birthday gift?” She said it like she really hoped Annabeth would accept her explanation and not ask too many questions.

Behind Annabeth, Percy smiled slightly, seeing straight through A.J., recognizing the rebellious streak he shared with his mom, and apparently had passed on to his daughter.

Annabeth stared at A.J. like she wasn’t sure whether or not she could accuse her of lying, and to cover the awkward moment, Leo continued to sweep A.J. The scanner past over her stomach without a hitch this time, and only blipped once more, on her left wrist.

“What’s this?” Annabeth snagged the girl’s wrist, flipping it upwards, exposing an owl, a trident, SPQR, and fourteen black slashes. Her Roman tattoos, showing off her parentage and allegiance to Rome, as a reserve Legionary.

“Charm bracelet.”

“What does it do?”

“Ummm…it looks nice on my arm?”

It was rather pretty. Gold and silver wove around to form the body of the bracelet, ending with a white clasp. There were nine charms: a silver owl, a golden trident, a pale blue dolphin, a black circle, a pink skull over a crossed bone and sword, a music note, the Eiffel Tower, a tiny spray canister, and a purple guitar.

Annabeth carefully poked the different charms. “An owl and a trident. Overkill.” She muttered so quietly no one could hear her. Then she dropped A.J.’s arm, not seeing any threat from a simple bracelet.

“Sit.” She pointed at the chair, pulling a set of zip ties out of her back pocket.

Wrong move. Immediately, A.J. tensed up, stepping back so quickly she nearly tripped over her own feet. Fear, horror, and sheer terror ripped across her face in a heartbeat, and she began to tremble slightly. Her eyes lost some of their focus, and she suddenly grabbed her left bicep like it was burning.

“Put them away.” Piper said, taking a step forward and grabbing Annabeth's arm. Annabeth didn’t move. “Annabeth-“

Percy swiftly moved in, not wanting a fight to start, and took the ties from Annabeth’s grip, tossing them out the back flap of the pavilion. A.J. relaxed fractionally, and some of the fear drained from her eyes, but there was still a gap, a distance that she wasn’t crossing. Something about the ties had triggered a painful memory, one that was still haunting her.

“Th-th-that…”she shuddered. “No z-zip ties. Please.” She sounded like a scared little girl, the one who didn’t want to head to the first day of kindergarten without her favorite teddy bear.

Annabeth watched her carefully, not meeting A.J.’s eyes. Something like shame flickered across her face, and then it vanished into her cold shell.

A.J. walked up to Annabeth, looking at her defiantly. Lingering traces of nerves marred the act, but her stare was still strong enough to bore into her face. Annabeth reluctantly raised her gaze to look into A.J.’s green eyes, where her betrayal was on full display. Then her daughter flicked her head, tossing her hair to one side, and flopped into the chair as ungracefully as she possibly could.

Annabeth took a moment to get her face under control. She wanted to laugh, cry, hug, apologize to, and slap the girl all at the same time.

She took a deep breath, and set her jaw.

Then she tore off a length of duct tape and set to work.

**chapter 14 [percy]**

I’m saying this because I care: Annabeth, you had WAY too much fun taping our daughter up.

A.J. was completely stuck to that chair. Her wrists were taped to the ends of the arm, then her elbows near the backs. There were two long double strips binding her waist to the back, and her ankles were stuck to the front legs of the chair. She would have gagged her too, but in A.J.’s own words “Screaming isn’t going to get me out of here, so why would I even bother? I have better things to do with my time.” When Annabeth questioned her about what ‘better things to do with my time’ meant, A.J. just shrugged.

“I dunno. Maybe sing all the songs on my Dra-ummmm….my Music-Player-Thing. Write poetry. Study for my Trig test. Boring stuff.”

Annabeth had no answer to that.

I was still a little worried about her. Seeing her reaction to those zip ties…..I desperately wanted to protect her from whatever it was that scared her so badly. The look in her eyes…it was as if the zip ties had murdered her best friend. Add that to the list of things for us to grill them on once this battle was over.

I stepped outside to see who Annabeth had found to guard A.J., because apparently, taping her to a chair just wasn’t freaking enough.

When I saw who was standing outside, I gave a mental sigh of relief. A.J. would be fine, and since Connor Stoll was, like, the king of all liars, she wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of there easily, not without giving everything about herself away.

“Hey, man.” Connor hobbled over to me, his left ankle wrapped in an ace bandage.

“Hey.” I said, studying his ankle. “What’s with your foot?”

“Broke my ankle in the fight against Camp Jupiter. It’s not healing properly, so I’ve gotta keep it wrapped for now.” There was an awkward pause. I wanted to fix his ankle for him, but I knew I would need my strength for the upcoming battle. “So what did Annabeth want me for? Isn’t this the head honcho tent or whatever?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it was. You’re on guard duty. Super important prisoner. I know she doesn’t exactly look…threatening…but she can be really dangerous if she wants to be.”

Connor looked surprised. “Guard duty? Sounds boring as Hades. How dangerous can one girl be?”

I smirked. “Really dangerous. She’s a Legacy of Poseidon, and she can use hydrokenisis.” We had agreed not to tell anyone who they really were, and came up with mostly-true cover stories for each of them.

Connor’s eyes widened in shock. “Wow, Percy! Congrats on getting a cousin, even if she is totally evil. Is she hot?”

I facepalmed. Of course that’s what his mind went straight to. “We’re related, so I’m not allowed to judge. See for yourself.” He followed me into the nearly-empty tent. The others had already cleared out, except for Piper. She and A.J. were giggling at something, and quickly shut up when we entered the tent.

“A.J., this is Connor Stoll. He’s-“

“The golden mango guy?” she looked genuinely surprised, as did Conner, who stared at her, a little confused.

I sighed. “Yes, he’s the golden mango guy. He’s going to be guarding you, so don’t try anything stupid.”

“Fine. See you guys later. Kick some monster butt for me, okay?” She said to me and Piper. I took that as our cue to get the Hades out of there, before Connor could start asking too many questions.

Piper and I jogged between the tents, heading eastward to get to our armies. She would be leading half of the Greek campers, and I had the first Cohort. Sadly, it also meant I would probably have to worry about Octavian screwing things up, but someone had to do the job.

“You think she’ll be okay?” I asked Piper as we dashed past abandoned campsites, running closer and closer to the shouts and battle cries of both our army and Gaea’s.

“Are you nuts?” Piper hollered over the screams. “That girl just soaked Octavian and got him to shut up from eighty feet away! She’ll be fine.”

My respect for the girl instantly doubled. I had wanted to do that to the guy since the moment I met him. She got him without even having to meet him!

Piper and I reached the back of the combined armies. Everyone was scrambling around, trying to get into position, except for a group in yellow jerseys near the back. Battlefield Medics, ready to start helping when the first wave of wounded demigods came back to them. Most of them were already injured, like Connor, and this was all they could do to help. I spotted a flash of pale yellow-blonde hair, and a weasely face.

“What’s Octavian doing with the medics?” I shouted to Piper, confused.

She smiled knowingly. “Jason didn’t want him in the way! It was part of the deal when A.J. soaked him!”

I grinned. Now he was out of our way, his ego had taken a hit, and hopefully he would be of some actual use, instead of hiding behind his soldiers like usual. Piper tossed me a casual wave, before heading south towards her troops. I turned and jogged north, where the first Cohort was waiting for me.

“Jackson!” One of the centurions of the first shouted. “Over here!” He flagged me down.

“Centurion James Matthews. Pleasure you serve you.” He held out a hand, and I shook it. The guy was tall-probably three or four inches more than me, and was heavily built. He had a brisk, military demeanor, but didn’t seem too grumpy or stuck up, so I could work with him. “I’ve already got your toon set up-the best of the best.” He beckoned to a couple Romans, who came over.

“Jackson, this is Megan, Evan, Luca, Adam, Karen, Cally, Harry, Mayo, and Joey. Their whole purpose is to get you to the Gigantes in one piece. You can trust them-all of them have at least seven years of service under their belts, and are the best in the first Cohort.” He nodded to me. “I’ll be seeing to the rest of our troops. May Fortuna smile upon you all.” James walked off, already talking to someone else.

“Sooooo…” I said carefully, having no idea where to start with this. “I’m-“

“Percy Jackson. Yeah. We know. Everybody knows you, dude! You’re a legend in the legion!” One of the girls said. She was tall, with kinky brown hair and green eyes. “Name’s Megan. Legacy of Mercury, First Cohort, residential badass, etc.”

She pronounced her name May-gen, which was probably important to her. I filed it away in the back of my head, just in case. I did NOT need her to get mad at me in the middle of a battle because of me screwing up her name. Like her cousins in the Hermes cabin, I had a feeling this was one girl I didn’t want ticked off.

The others introduced themselves as well, following her lead.

“Luca. Legacy of Apollo.”

“Hey! I’m Karen. Daughter of Hecate.”

“Adam. Son of Ceres, super-ultra-mega distant Legacy of Jupiter.”

“Evan. Legacy of Mars.”

“My name’s Calypso, but you can call me Cally. Legacy of Venus and Iris.”

“Harry. Son of Vulcan.”

“Yo, it’s Mayo! It’s pronounced MY-oh, not May-oh. May-oh is the gross slimy stuff weird people put on their sandwiches. Daughter of Apollo.”

“Joey. Legacy of Bacchus.”

They seemed okay. Nobody was setting off my internal demigod ‘OMGs that thing is definitely evil’ radar.

“Hey. So, you guys know the plan, right?”

“If by plan, you mean kill the stuff that’s trying to kill you, then yeah. We know the plan.” One of the black-haired girls-Cally, maybe?-said sarcastically.

“Okay…um, so, other than killing everything evil on sight…we’re going to cut around the north border towards the Giants. No detours unless absolutely necessary.” I looked them all in the eye, one by one. “We don’t leave anybody behind.”

A few of them began to protest, but I cut them off. “I don’t care if that’s different than the Roman standard. I’m in charge right now, and _this is how we’re doing things_.”

They shut up abruptly. Good old Roman training. Everybody follows orders, knows their place. That would have to change a little if we were going to fight together.

“That being said,” I continued. “I’m probably not going to give you any other orders. You need to show some initiative. Got ideas for how to kill something big and scary and dangerous? Grab someone and try it out. I’m not the only source of plans here. You were picked because you’re good. Now use those noggins and prove it to me!”

They looked a little surprised, but Megan looked pretty psyched about it.

“Ugh, _finally_!” She said, her voice somewhere between disgust and happiness. “Usually we get stuck with orders from that _spumae lactans morionem_ Octavian. His plans almost never work, and we end up looking pretty stupid. We’ll make you proud, Percy Jackson, and get you to the Gigantes in one piece.”

I smiled. “Good. We’ve got maybe twenty minutes, so let’s get ready for this.”

**15 - connor**

Connor reclined against the map table, studying the girl in the chair carefully. She was pretty-not fake pretty, like some of the Aphrodite girls, covered in ten inches of makeup to try and look perfect. A.J. was pretty in a natural, let’s-not-go-overboard-on-the-makeup way. Even tied to a chair, she looked good, the casual confidence that bubbled out of her hiding all her flaws-messy hair, the short white scar on her collarbone, her left eyebrow, the one that was more arched than the other. 

At the same time, he couldn’t help but be slightly nervous around her. They had never met-as far as he knew; she had never been to Camp Half Blood. But she had known about the Golden Mango prank. She knew that _he_ was one of the Golden Mango prank guys. Around camp, he had been famous for not being someone you should trust with Sharpies or Cool Whip, but he doubted that that kind of information would have reached Gaea.

“So.” She said, breaking the silence. “How did you get stuck with something as horrib- sorry, _amazingly_ _wonderful_ \- as guard duty? You don’t look like the kind of person who would willingly stay behind in a big fight like this one.”

It caught him slightly off guard, so he immediately went on the offensive. “Why are you a prisoner? You don’t look particularly dangerous.”

She smiled, a dangerous smirk that told him not to test her. “I asked you first.”

“I’m not the one who’s tied to a chair.”

Her grin widened. “Fair enough. There’s been a slight…miscommunication about my loyalties to Olympus.” Her smile faded slightly. “They’re having trouble believing in who I am. It may have had something to do with how I got here. Annabeth wants me out of the battle so they can question me some more later.”

Connor was a little stunned at her openness, and he wasn’t really sure if it was all a big trick, or if she really was telling him the truth. “How _did_ you arrive?”

A.J.’s eyes sparkled with a mischievous secret. “I materialized out of nowhere, right into the middle of their strategy meeting.”

“Bet that scared them.”

“Yup. The looks on their faces were pretty hilarious though.” Her eyes faded out a little, like on TV shows when a character has a flashback.

“So. You never answered my question. Why are you stuck guarding me?” she asked.

He shifted his weight awkwardly. Tell her, and she has one of his weaknesses, which she could potentially exploit. He had a feeling that if he tried lying to her, she would somehow catch him in the act.

“My ankle.” Connor admitted, slightly guiltily. “It’s broken, and it won’t set.”

She made a face. “Ugh. I hate it when that happens.” There was a pause. “Um…if you want, I could um, heal it for you. My power over water can do that, if you want me to.”

 _Trap_. It’s a trap. The words echoed through his mind, but he swept them away. Connor wanted to be in this battle desperately. Once this was all over, everyone would have cool stories to tell their kids. What was he supposed to tell them: “I was there, but I guarded a teenage girl tied to a chair instead of fighting.”? Yeah. _So_ heroic sounding.

He hated being stuck with his foot broken. Everyone treated him like an invalid. If she could actually heal him-he could get out of there. He could go fight, and be a hero. She was one girl, tied to a chair. Did she really need a guard?

“Swear you’re only going to fix my ankle, and not try to escape?”

She met his gaze, green eyes into hazel. “I swear on the River Styx that I will not attempt to escape while healing your ankle.”

Well that sealed it. Swearing on the River Styx was big-you break that oath, and get an eternity of pure Hades. Not the nice kind of Hades either-the kind that makes Tartarus look like a paradise.

Connor let out a long breath. “What do you need me to do?”

A.J. smiled at him kindly. “Well, if you’ve got a bottle of water, that would speed things up. I can summon it from the ground, but that takes more time and effort.”

He shook his head, holding up his hands in a peace gesture. “Sorry.”

She sighed. “That’s okay.” She glared intensely at the floor, and after a few seconds a spout of water began pouring out of the ground.

Connor was impressed. A.J. had really good control over her powers-if he was tied to a chair, he would have gone insane from not being able to do anything, making his limited Hermes abilities useless. She was barely able to drum her fingers on the armrests, which she had been doing incessantly since he had got there, a constant rhythm of five that penetrated the air, and she was summoning water from the ground. Of course, she was Big Three material, so she was naturally stronger than most demigods.

“Come here.” She said to him, adjusting her gaze on the water, so it spiraled through the air towards her.

He balked, not wanting to get too close to the girl that Percy Jackson himself claimed was dangerous. A.J. looked at him expectantly, and he reluctantly shuffled over to her, limping on his bad foot.

Connor stopped a foot away from her. The tendrils of water looped through the air, and latched around his wrist. He tried to pull away, but they moved with him. The water connected with A.J.’s skin, just above her right wrist, and began to glow with dim green light. The glow spun around the water connecting their arms, and slid over his body. His ankle jerked sharply forward, and Connor felt the muscles align, better than they had when the Apollo kid had set it the first time. 

The glow faded, and A.J. slumped back in her chair, breathing heavily from the effort. The water released their arms, and splashed out on the ground, soaking into the packed-dirt floor. Connor reached down and unwrapped his ankle.

It looked completely normal-the red marks around it were gone, and it felt completely normal. He put some weight on it. No problems.

He stared at her, trying to figure out how to thank her. A simple “Thanks” seemed a bit lame, but untaping her seemed a little extreme.

Before he could formulate a response, the ceiling exploded with a flaming chunk of metal, and he was thrown to the floor, slamming his head into a rock.

And then everything went black.

**16 - connor**

Connor woke up to the smell of burning flesh and hair. He was sprawled on the dirt ground, A.J. leaning over him, checking his pulse on his neck.

“Oh come on, Connor!” she said, slightly frustrated. “Wake up already, you big idiot! There’s a war on! Now is not the time for a nap!”

He tried to smile, but that hurt too much, so he shifted his neck a little.

The effect was instantaneous. A.J.’s eyes lit up, bright and green. “Oh, thank the gods! I thought you were dead; your heart had stopped for a minute and everything! Here.” She gently opened his lips a little, and drizzled something cold and sweet into his mouth from a canteen. It tasted like his mom’s blue raspberry slush, the stuff she used to make him and Travis in the summer when they were little. Nectar.

Energy rushed through his body, and Connor surged upwards. His vision immediately went foggy around the edges.

“Whoa, whoa, easy there!” A.J. gently propped him up into a sitting position. His vision cleared, and he got a good look at her.

Her face was a mess- a long bloody scar ran across her nose and up her left cheekbone. The rest of her face was either super pale, or covered in soot, with some of it streaking through her blonde hair, which was no longer curly, but sleek, and much longer, mid-back instead of just at her shoulder blades. She kept having to brush it out of her face, as it continuously flopped into her eyes.

“Wow….what happened?” Connor asked, looking around.

A.J. sat next to him, taking a drink from the canteen herself. The slash on her face immediately began to fade up, and some of her color returned.

“Not really sure.” She said, surveying the mess with him. “Some huge piece of shrapnel fell out of the sky. No idea where it came from though. Anyways, it exploded into the tent. You fell over, out cold. That was probably fifteen minutes ago. It hit right next to me, sent me flying. The chair pretty much melted apart from the blaze. When I rolled to a stop, I was able to get up, and put out the flames as best as I could. Then I cut the remains of the chair off me, and went to find you. I waited for you to wake up. Found the canteen in one of the other tents-I think we’re the only ones around here.”

Okay. The story seemed pretty plausible to Connor, so he would believe most of it. The damage around them seemed to match too-the chunk of metal, the destroyed tents, and the small fires that still burned around where they were sitting.

“Where’d you get the knife? Why is your hair different?” He asked, still a little confused on some points. 

A.J. sighed. “My hair is naturally straight. I use water to hold it in curls. It’s kind of a silly reason why I do it, but…I don’t know…I just do it anyways. It’s more manageable too. Honestly, this stuff just slides right out of a ponytail.” She blew a puff of air at the strands blocking her vision, and they floated to the side, and began casually drifting back into her face. “The knife…um, I found it? In the tent with the nectar?” She pulled it out of her left shoe and showed it to him. A boring, basic celestial bronze knife, maybe ten inches long.

Connor didn’t believe her for a second, but she had saved him. He owed A.J. his life. How she did it wasn’t important right now.

“Okay. So now what?”

“Well. We’ve got a couple options. One, we can go and join the fight. I’m all for that choice.” She said innocently. Connor smiled. The girl had spunk. No wonder they wanted her locked up. She could easily be a loose cannon. “Or I can knock you out, and go join the fight on my own. I’d prefer not to go with that, as it can get a bit messy. Your choice.” She continued playing with the knife, tossing it from hand to hand, catching it neatly each time. Connor had no doubt that she knew exactly what she was doing with the blade, and that if he vetoed her idea, he would be out cold before you could say _drachma_.

“I’m in.” He said.

She smiled wickedly, and stood, offering him a hand. “Good.”

He grabbed her forearms and pulled himself off the ground, but she squeaked and pain, yanking her hands away, so he fell onto his butt. She clutched at her arms, shaking in pain.

“Gods, I’m sorry!” Connor said quickly, trying to figure out what he had screwed up on. “What…why…your arms?”

A.J. shivered, and sat back down next to him. “Here.” She showed him the tops of her forearms, and Connor had to fight his gag reflex.

The skin was raw and red, from just past her wrists until the duct tape ended. The gray strips were still there-hacked off neatly from where it had attached to the chair. The tape had bubbles in it, and the edges melded right into her skin. The flames had melted the glue, and completely burned it into her skin. The edges looked like someone had tried to peel it off, but failed.

Connor reached out a hand to touch it, and A.J. jerked her arm away sharply.

“It’s melted into my skin. I’m afraid to pull it off. It hurts. Bad. I’ve dumped a little nectar on it-that’s why it looks so good. I got the stuff on my elbows and legs off just fine, and the tape on my shirt isn’t coming off, but it’s not melded into my stomach, thank gods. I’m sorry I dropped you.”

He shook his head. “No. Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” Connor shoved himself to his feet. The world spun, and then realigned. A.J. carefully stood, using her legs to push herself up instead of her arms.

“Can you fight?” He asked her.

She nodded. “Still got your weapon?”

“Yeah-Oh, I’m such an idiot!” He pulled a Ziploc baggie out of his pocket. It contained a few squares of ambrosia-really squished ambrosia, but he could care less. It would still be enough to recharge them.

“You might wanna go easy on that. I gave you most of that canteen.” She said, taking a bunch of the little pieces of ambrosia, popping them into her mouth. Connor nodded, and only had a small amount himself.

“Ah, that feels so good!” A.J. studied her arms. “It looks much better. Redness is mostly gone. I’ll be able to fight just fine, but I think my water powers are gonna be offline.”

“Just like us normal demigods?”

_“Normal?!”_

Okay, she had him there. _Normal_ wasn’t exactly in the average demigod’s vocabulary. “You know…normal for demigods?”

“Su-re…” She smiled at him. “Now come on. I wanna kill some monsters!”

**17 - jason**

Jason hated the Second Cohort, and the Second Cohort hated Jason. They were notoriously pure, arrogant, bratty, and only took demigods or Legacies with _extremely_ good letters of reference. When he first came to camp, Jason had really wanted to be one of them. Now he thought they were prideful idiots-even their older soldiers, the 17 and 18 year olds, played Mythomagic and couldn’t tie a proper toga.

Which is why nobody was too happy about him having to lead them. His squad was okay- he recognized a few of them from training, and they didn’t seem to hate him too much. Mostly they just ignored him while they waited for sundown. It came faster than Jason expected, the last golden rays just fading over the horizon. He sent up a silent prayer to the gods, and stood, brushing bits of freezing rock off of his jeans in the dim light of the torches.

This was it. The final battle. No going back, no running away. He knew he was going to survive, but it still scared the Hades out of him. Jason could still remember getting ready for the battle of Mount Tam-he hadn’t been scared then. He had been brainwashed into thinking war was a good thing-the Roman way of doing things. If he died then, he was told he would be honored as a hero of the legion.

His mind started drifting. What if he didn’t survive? What if Orion and the others coming to their parent’s time would screw something up? If he died, would Orion not exist? Would all of Orion’s friend’s memories of him disappear? Would he be _replaced?_ Jason hated thinking about it, but he knew Piper was pretty enough to get just about any guy in either camp. After this battle, she would have fame and glory too. If he was dead, would she just move on, and someone else’s kid would take Orion’s place, all because they time traveled?

His head was telling him that Piper would move on. It was only natural, of course. The Roman way of things. Lost your best friend to the Minotaur? No biggie. You’d be over it in a week or two.

But Piper’s Greek, his heart said. Piper would stay loyal to you. Piper wouldn’t forget you. Wouldn’t take some other guy. She might go as far as killing herself to be with you. 

_Awwww!!! That is **so** sweet! _A voice inside his head giggled. Jason flinched. He was pretty sure his subconscious didn’t sound like Drew.

_No, no, not Drew. Her mom, silly!_

Oh. Aphrodite. Piper’s mo-

_Yes, yes, Piper’s mom. Don’t worry about her loyalties. I had a nice little chat with the Zhang girl-_

Emma?

_Ah, yes, that’s her name! Emma. She’s got a sweet love story…all she has to do is get him to-_

Um…you were saying something about Piper?

_Oh, right! Sorry. She was telling me about how sweet the two of you are in the future, and how totally well you balance each other out. She was even able to let me into her memories and showed me some of your wedding photos from your house…._

The voice sighed dreamily, and Jason made a face. _Wedding photos?_ How awkward can it get? He hated himself for it, but he kinda wanted to see them…too bad he wasn’t a god with mind reading powers.

_You don’t need to be a god to win her heart, silly!_

Oh…um, sorry. That’s not what it was about.

_Oh. So, anyways. Big battle coming up. Scared?_

We all are.

_Don’t worry. Those of us who can get past our silly Greek/Roman problem will be there to fight for you. Your dad’s still out of the picture…he’s been eating sushi and watching football all afternoon…He’ll be fine later. I think._

Jason really didn’t need to know that, or need the stress that came with it. His dad, the strongest of all the Olympians, was reduced to a couch potato. One with good taste in Asian cuisine, but still a couch potato.

He shuddered to think what the other Olympians were up to.

One of his squad crunched over the gravel to him.

“It’s about to start. We’re taking a direct charge-no detours, no falling behind. Straight lines, fastest routes. We get you to the Gigantes, and then you’re on your own.”

Jason nodded, and pulled out his sword. “Let’s do this.”

**ch 18 is lost.**

**ch 19 - annabeth**

Seeing as Annabeth was the one of only two Greeks that the Romans would accept as a leader (the other being Percy, of course), she was placed in charge of the Fifth- Percy, Jason, Hazel and Frank’s Cohort. She had gone and introduced herself to her troops and to Dakota, the Kool-Aid guzzling centurion. Then she excused herself and went to find Leo.

She located him with his half of the Greek campers, chatting away with his siblings, who he hadn’t seen in months. He didn’t see her for a minute, but then when he glanced up, he noticed her gaze boring into his skull. Quickly slipping away, he made his way through the throngs of warriors towards her.

“Annabeth. Wassup?”

She gave him a hard look. “Is there more than a speaker system on the Argo II? I mean, like, cameras and stuff?”

Leo ran a hand through his hair, nodding. “It’s meant to be accessed by the control panel in the wheel house…but I could probably hack it from here. If you want.”

Annabeth sent him an ‘are-you-seriously-kidding-me’ glare.

“Okay, okay! Hacking it!” He summoned an iPad from his tool belt, and started tapping commands into the screen. “Um, quick question though. Why, exactly, am I doing this?”

“I don’t trust them. I’d like to keep an eye on them.”

Leo rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath about clearly and A.J. and duct tape, but Annabeth ignored him. She might look paranoid right now, but later they would ALL see that she was right all along.

“And…we are in!”

“In what?”

Piper had come jogging over to them, her brown hair flipping in the slight breeze. She looked scared, but very determined-she had been told that she was going to survive this battle, and was going to make sure it turned out that way.

“Security system on the Argo II.” Leo told her, opening a few more windows on the iPad’s screen. Eighteen live feeds began playing: Four in the hallway leading to their cabins, two in the mess hall, three in the lounge, five in the cargo bay/ stables, one in the wheelhouse, two on the deck, and one in the armory.

Manipulating the screen, Annabeth shut out all but two feeds: the one in the wheelhouse, and the one on the starboard side of the deck.

“Um…why?” Piper looked confused.

“I want to keep an eye on them.” Annabeth said, eyes flitting across the screen intently.

Piper shared a quizzical look with Leo, but didn’t ask any more questions. She moved to Leo’s left to watch over the feed over his shoulder, Annabeth shifting to his right. Leo expanded the feed in the wheelhouse, which showed Sammy and Jake.

Sammy stood over the controls, lifting the Argo II over the battlefield. Jake was busy at work, programming long sequences of volleys and shots into the computer, commands to be used during the battle.

“So.” Sammy said, glancing up from his work. “You’re being awfully quiet. And not, like, normal Gothic-Death-Boy quiet, but like something’s bugging you quiet.”

Jake looked at him, his hands still flying across the controls like he’d done it a thousand times. “It’s nothing.”

Sammy glared at him. “You’re totally lying dude. Remember the you-know-what? I can, like, totally tell that kind of thing about you.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “And what you-know-what would this be, Valdez? The five of us have an awful lot of those.”

“The you-know-what you-know-what. _That_ one. So, spill. What’ s bugging you?”

Leo looked at Piper in horror. “ _Please_ tell me the you-know-what isn’t them dating.”

“Don’t be a homophobe Val-“

“ _Excuse_ me!?”

“A ho-mo-phobe, you idiot! Someone afraid of same-sex marriage? Duh. And no, they’re not together. I would be able to tell. They’re more like brothers. A bit more distant than Sammy and Orion’s brotherness, but still brothers.”

Leo nodded, looking relieved, while Annabeth gave him the evil eye for interrupting the conversation onboard the ship.

Jake shrugged. “It’s just…weird. No. Weird doesn’t even start to describe this. It’s completely insane. How the Hades does she expect this to work?”

“She has ridiculous expectations. And, she doesn’t know about Liam.”

“She’s gonna be so pissed when she finds out.”

“I know. We’re totally screwed. But for now, let’s just concentrate on winning the damn war, then we can get out of here, and then we’re golden.”

They returned to work, clattering away at the keyboards in silence.

Annabeth did a mental fist pump. Yes, yes, YES! They were spilling everything she would need to know to expose them. The **She** had to be Gaea. They were spies, alright. And there was a sixth, some guy named Ryan. He must have split off from the rest, taking the only lifeboat on their sinking ship of lies. She would have to be on guard for that one.

Leo closed that feed, and pulled up the other. It showed Orion and Emma, manning the weaponry, replenishing their stocks of ammo, and adding extra Greek Fire to the cannons from silver flasks they procured from their endless backpacks.

“Oreo?” Emma said hesitantly, as she loaded a crossbow with deadly sharp celestial-bronze tipped bolts.

“Hmm?” He turned to face her, presumably so she could read his lips. “What’s up?”

“You look horrible. Totally shell shocked. You gonna be okay?”

Orion shrugged. “Honestly, I just don’t know. I’ve never been as good at you guys at hiding emotions …but I don’t think anything will go too badly.”

Annabeth let a slight smile grace her lips. Perfect. Orion would be easy to crack.

Piper bit her lower lip, studying Annabeth’s creepy face. She didn’t like how Annabeth was smiling, like she was planning the eventual torture of someone, and was trying to figure out how much dirt it would take to bury them. And if it was about Orion-she and Annabeth were going to have a serious talk later.

“And A.J.?”

He made a face, chewing on his lower lip. “Yeaaaaaaah. What about her?”

Emma gave him a look, and Piper laughed out loud, her fears fading momentarily. “Oh, that is PERFECT. She looks _just_ like Hazel!” She noticed the dirty look Annabeth was sending her, and shut up.

“Her face. Did you see that look?”

“Of _course_ I saw her look. Like her worst nightmares just came to life. Like she’d been caught and her captors weren’t going to show any mercy.”

Annabeth felt like Christmas had just come early, but she kept her smile tucked away.

“That’s _exactly_ what I’m worried about. Her not being able to face that kind of betrayal.” Emma said quietly, and continued stuffing ammunition into the crossbow.

**ch 20 - connor**

Connor had always thought that Percy was the strongest, bravest, most bad-ass demigod ever.

Then he met A.J.

She ran just ahead of him, dodging flaming chunks of shrapnel (he still had no idea where it was coming from) and burning tents, cutting a straight path towards the southern battlegrounds. Her blonde hair rippled out behind her as she vaulted over rubble, sprinting towards the battle, a creepy glowing smile on her face.

They reached the outskirts of the battle, right where a crowd of Earthborn had a few campers surrounded. The monsters were toying with them, jabbing and slashing at them from all directions. One of the girls was on the ground, tending to another camper with a nasty gash across his forehead, while still trying to fend off their attackers.

“You coming or what?!” A.J. shouted over her shoulder to him, diving right into the fray, her knife a golden swirl between the six-armed beasts.

Reckless, pretty, powerful, a sense of humor, and way out of his league. Connor was liking this girl more and more. He drew his blade and charged after her to help. Not that there was much to do. She was already dragging one of the girls-Melanie, maybe?-off the ground, and passing her a sword from one of the newly formed piles of monster dust.

“You guys okay?” A.J. asked in concern.

Melanie nodded, looking totally stunned. “You… how?... the monsters?...wow. Just wow. That was really cool. Thank you. I’m Melanie. Daughter of Demeter.” She held out a hand, which A.J. shook gracefully. “These are my sibling Bryan, Nick, and Jess; and Laura, daughter of Apollo.” She waved to each demigod in turn.

“Name’s A.J. I’m a legacy of Poseidon.”

“So you’re related to-“

“Percy Jackson?” she said it in a slightly frustrated tone, as if many people had asked her that before. “Yup. Now. I think we should probably go kill some stuff, right?”

Melanie nodded, looking a little star struck. “How did we not know about you before? What are you, sixteen? You would’ve died in the outside world without training.”

A.J. shrugged. “I’m only fifteen, and I trained at Camp Jupiter. See?” She showed Melanie the inside of her wrist. It was still red and raw from the explosion and duct tape, but fourteen black lines and a trident were emblazoned on her arm. Her charm bracelet jingled merrily as Melanie tentatively touched the trident, which didn’t seem to be centered quite right, positioned over the QR in the Roman motto.

“Oh.”

“Um…yeah. So, should we go?”

Melanie nodded, and the two girls began leading them towards the main battle.

Laura walked beside Connor, admiring the Argo II, which was speeding over the battle, launching missiles and volleys of flaming crossbow bolts into the hordes of monsters.

“So.” She said conversationally, as they neared a group of dracaena. “Where the Hades did _you_ find a Roman Legacy of Poseidon?”

Connor shrugged. “She was a prisoner. I was her guard. Stuff blew up. She saved my life. End of story.” 

“Uh-huh…End of story, my ass.” Laura elbowed him in the ribs, smiling in a not-so-innocent way, almost like an Aphrodite girl. “Well, I must say, she seems pretty nice. Even though I have to hate her.”

Connor looked at her in shock, while simultaneously dodging two spear thrusts at his neck, and then spun like a ballerina, slicing the Earthborn’s head off. “Uhhhhh…why?” A.J. saved Laura’s life. How could Laura hate her already? He would _never_ understand girls.

“ _Because,”_ Laura dragged out the letters as if talking to a small child, flipping her red curls out of her face. “She’s blonde, pretty, and super skinny. All girls who look like that are automatically hated by other girls. It’s like an unwritten law slash universal girl code. No matter how cool they are, how nice-Oh, gods, duck!” She hit the ground, and Connor followed her lead. A sword whistled over their heads, and lodged itself into a monster standing behind them, a club poised to smash their heads in. He disintegrated, and Laura rolled to the right and swiveled to her feet, almost chopping A.J.’s face to shreds.

“Eep! Sorry! He was gonna kill you, and it was the only way and I’m sorry if I startled you!” She ducked under Laura’s blade, and retrieved her sword- three feet of wicked leaf-shaped blade, in some mysterious golden-bronze colored metal, protruding from the creature’s chest. A matching blade in pure silver rested in her left hand, already covered in monster goo.

Connor stood and surveyed the carnage. A.J. had completely dominated the local monsters. Piles of ick and gore were everywhere, the carcasses of monsters that she, Melanie, Jess, Nick and Bryan had destroyed while he and Laura were having their little heart-to-heart.

“Wicked swords.” Said Laura, admiring the blades, her little rant about blondes completely forgotten. “Where’d you get them? That’s totally going on my Christmas list.”

“Camp J. And they’re unique, so I think you’re going to have to find something else to ask Santa for.”

Connor looked slightly worried. A.J. had had those swords the whole time? How do you hide six feet of metal when you’re taped to a chair?

The obvious answer was magic. Percy had Riptide. A.J. had cool blades that would pass under the noses of the Seven. Why not, right? Seems like those Poseidon kids get all the cool toys.

“Damn.” Laura sighed longingly. “Cause those are cool.”

A.J. laughed at her expression as she ducked under a sword that would’ve impaled her from behind, and slew the creature without even turning around.

“Yeah, I know right!?”


	3. chs 21-30

**21 - reyna**

There was shrapnel falling from the sky, and it wasn’t exactly making Reyna’s day.

First, she had to make plans to defeat the freaking goddess of the earth, grandma of the freaking GODS.

Then, she met five teenagers who swore that they were the Seven’s children.

And she believed that.

Was it weird? Yes. Did she believe them? Also yes. Peculiarly, against all odds, there was something in her gut that told her they were telling the truth. They gave her new battle plans that had to be distributed to all of the Cohorts and the Greek campers. People had to re-organize, and there was plenty of complaining from certain people (cough cough First Cohort cough Second Cohort cough Aphrodite girls cough) that took absolutely _forever_ to sort out.

Next came dealing with Octavian. He was bitching about how Jason ordered him to stay behind with the medics, (Reyna privately thought that was a very good idea.) and he wasn’t having it. She was _this_ close to slapping his soggy face (what was with that?) and telling him to get his sorry podex out of her sight.

And now it was raining flaming chunks of metal.

Her day was just getting better and better.

She was helping out in the Third Cohort-they were her old bunkmates before she became praetor, and she was still close friends with some of the centurions. Frank had been assigned to the Third, and she had personally picked the warriors in his squad. It was a good blend-mainly swordfighters, as she knew Frank would want to do as much archery as possible, and a few spear fighters and one other archer.

The battle began, and Reyna charged right in with the squad that she had elected to lead, slashing and hacking with the others. In the distance, the Argo II began to power forward; its automatic weaponry was sending volleys of flaming death straight into their enemy’s ranks.

Frank, in elephant form, was leading his troops, leaving a path of crushed monsters in his wake. Razor-tipped arrows and volleys of spears were mere pinpricks against his leathery hide.

For the first time in weeks, Reyna had real hope that the Seven would triumph.

**ch 22 - piper**

The battle was going much better than Piper could have ever expected, which scared her a little. Usually, things could never go so well. Something had to be up, as she and her team were cutting a path straight through their enemies, towards Eurytos, Bane of Hera, with limited interference.

Of all the Giants they could have gone after first, Piper was a little nervous that she, Leo, and Annabeth were going to be going after Hera's Bane. None of them were very fond of that particular goddess, but they had agreed that it was probably a good idea to take down the as many of the Original Six's (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia. Hestia didn't even have a Bane, and Poseidon and Hades' were already dead. Piper had a feeling that Porphyrion was going to be the true final battle for them.) as possible, as fast as they possibly could.

Hazel, Frank, Jason and Percy were going to take on Agrios, Bane of Demeter and Thoon, Bane of Aphrodite. (Aphrodite wasn't technically part of the Six Children of Kronos and Rhea, but her parents were even older and so her Bane was probably going to be just as deadly. Piper just hoped her mom's Bane wouldn't accessorize her friends to death. That would be a little inconvenient.)

Piper dodged a blade, pivoting on her left foot, and she slashed straight through the Cerberus Mongrel that was trying to spit acid in her half-sister Lacey's face.

"Thanks!" Lacey said, giving Piper a confident full-braces smile, and then turning and partially decapitating another Mongrel, and Butch (son of Iris) stabbed it through the heart, slaying the creature.

Piper grinned back at the girl. Gods, in the time they were in Greece, Lacey had really become a leader. She had taken over as temporary cabin counselor, and made sure that all of her half-siblings got whipped into shape for the upcoming war. Even with all the crap Lacey got from Drew, she still powered on, and turned her cabin from the laughingstock of camp into a respected band of fighters. (Even if they still wore hot pink armor.) Piper was seriously proud to be her half-sister.

"LEO!" she shouted, flagging him down from where he was running through a patch of dracaena, swinging a flaming hammer around like a maniac. He waved at her, still killing everything in his path.

"Beauty Queen." He caught up with her in a circle of Telekhines. Piper was careful to keep her distance-he was starting to randomly shoot sparks around, barbecuing the local sea-dogs without even trying.

"Repair Boy. You might want to save some flames for the Giants?" She parried a blade from one of the monsters, slashing and hacking its face to shreds, before repeating the process on one of his buddies.

He smiled, a little demonically, and Piper had to remind herself that he was on her side. Thank the gods for that. "I'm Admiral Flamin' Valdez! Creator of the Argo II! I tamed Festus, flew a helicopter and rescued your movie star dad! I'm fine!"

"You named your metal dragon Festus. As in, like, Happy the fire breathing, two ton Celestial bronze dragon. Not sure why I think this, but I'm pretty sure you aren't fine. Especially not in the head."

Leo pouted, slamming his hammer into the nearest monster. It evaporated into golden dust and blew into his face, make him look like he got Midas'd again.

Piper turned, catching a glimpse of golden-blonde curls rippling as a figure dashed through the ranks, a spray of dust flying out in her wake.

"There's Annabeth! Come on, Grease Monkey, we've got a Giant to kill!"

**23 - hazel**

The Fourth Cohort…they were okay. Not the best, not the worst. Just sort of average. Hazel didn’t really dislike them, but she didn’t exactly have any friends among them.

They were doing alright with the fight-nothing too big or scary came their way. Hazel had already lost two of her soldiers-one got hit mauled by a hellhound, and bled out from the chest wounds. The other had thrown herself in front of Hazel, taking the full blow of a battle-axe to the face, just to spare a member of the Seven.

Hazel hated herself, and was privately mourning the loss of her soldiers, fighting back the tears. Every blow with her cavalry sword was delivered with all of her pain from her loss, as if she was personally avenging their deaths. It felt really good-who needs a grief therapist when you can just beat up monsters?

They made it to the far reaches of the battle, just in front of the giants who were egging on their fighters. Kalise (the Centurion in charge) saluted her, then turned and began to work her way back through the ranks, leading the platoon in sweeping arc of destruction. Hazel understood-they didn’t need words to show their support. The Legion would be behind the Seven until the very end.

“FRANK!” She screamed, thrusting a hand up in the air. Almost instantaneously, a giant eagle swooped down, latching its iron talons onto her hand, dragging her into the air. They traveled the last quarter mile to the outskirts of the giant’s home camp, landing in one of their hundred foot shadows. Hazel hit the ground and rolled to the left, swirling into a ready stance, while Frank turned back into a human again, pulling out his bow.

“Hey.” He said, as if him turning from a massive bird to a person was totally no big deal. “You okay?”

Hazel nodded, faking a smile, and gave him a light peck on the cheek. “I’m fine. We should go find Percy and Jason-I just want to get this battle over as fast as we possibly can.”

Frank nodded, smiling a little dazedly. “Yeaahh…Oh…I mean, um, yes, of course. Second and First Cohorts, right? They’d end up much farther north than us.” He spun around in a circle, awkwardly trying to get his bearings. “Which is…that way?” He pointed in a direction at random.

Hazel smiled, giggling slightly. She took his arm, and spun him to the right direction. “ _That_ way.” Frank blushed, muttering something under his breath about him totally knowing that. Hazel laughed and tugged his arm in the right direction. “Come on!”

They jogged along to the north, keeping to the shadows. If they were seen, well, Hazel didn’t really want to think about what would happen to them.

“Hazel…” Frank murmured under his breath, as they ducked behind a boulder to hide from a lookout. “Emma. You want to talk about her?”

Hazel felt her face start to turn pink, and pretended to scope the area for any monsters. “Do you?” she countered.

To be honest, Hazel wasn’t quite sure what she thought of her daughter. She was everything Hazel had hoped her daughter would be-confident, easy going, a good fighter, and surrounded by friends. At the same time, she was terrified for the girl-she was deaf, and had been on ten quests. Ten quests. What sick freaks had decided to give their daughter so much destiny?

Frank shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

“Very.”

“But…it’s sort of nice, I guess. To know we all make it out alive.” He looked at her, tilting his head slightly like a curious puppy.

“Mmm-hmm?” Hazel hummed, looking over her shoulder. “Oh, hey, there’s Jason!” She wanted the subject changed as fast as possible. She wasn’t ready to talk, not now, maybe not for years. But they’d have plenty of time-23 years-to talk about it.

“Jason!” Frank hissed, waving at him from behind their rock. Jason glanced up, noticing them, and began slipping over the landscape, ducking and dodging towards them.

“Where’s Percy?” Hazel whispered, when Jason finally reached them.

Jason’s eyebrows shot up. “I thought he was with you. He hasn’t gotten here yet?”

“We thought he was with you.” Frank explained quickly.

Jason’s blue eyes widened slightly. “I haven’t seen him for ages…you don’t think…?”

“We’ve got A.J., don’t we?” Hazel asked bracingly. “She couldn’t be here if Percy’s… y’know… dead.”

**24 - Percy**

Percy didn’t think his luck could be this bad, but proof of it was staring at him in the face. He glared up at his old enemy, wondering how the Hades the half-giant had managed to come back from Tartarus.

“Welcome back, Perseus Jackson!” The creature, clad only in a yellow loincloth (ew) and a bronze breastplate, bellowed, giving a cruel laugh. “This time, you cannot defeat me!”

Percy snorted in disgust at his half-brother. “I did it once; I can do it again, Antaeus. Though, I must say, it has been fun _hanging_ out.” He emphasized the word hanging as a mocking reminder to how he destroyed Antaeus last time.

Antaeus roared angrily, and Percy smirked. Good to know that his last beating had stuck with the half-giant.

His half-brother charged, swinging his mace, and Percy ran forward to meet him, roaring a battle cry.

Percy had no idea what he was going to do. Like a proper Seaweed Brain, he had just taunted a son of Gaea while they were standing on the ground, and this time, he couldn’t hang the freak from the ceiling by his underwear.

Even at the best of times, Percy couldn’t multitask. If he was playing Call of Duty, and his mom was trying to talk to him, then he’d get stuck somewhere in the middle and neither would get done. On the battlefield, it was like that, only ten times worse. He had to deal with Antaeus’s mace swings that kept on nearly decapitating him or ripping off his limbs.

What did he know? _What did he know!?!?!!?_

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He never got better than a C+ in his life. Even as a demigod, he didn’t do so well with all of the long names and myths. He was so utterly useless, and now he was going to die because of it.

 _You can do this Seaweed Brain._ Annabeth’s voice whispered through his head. _Think! Just try not to hurt yourself in the process, okay?_

He smiled slightly at the thought. It was exactly what Annabeth would say to him if she was there with him.

Actually, she probably would have already made a plan and killed Antaeus.

 _Okay…_ Percy thought. _What do I know?_

Antaeus was a half-giant, Percy’s really distant half-brother. His dad was Poseidon, and his mom was Gaea. (Percy didn’t really want to know why or how that happened.) On the ground, he was immortal. The dirt would just rise up and heal his wounds-Percy had already confirmed this to still be true, with a good long slash along Antaeus’ right forearm. It currently looked like a week-old scar, and was still healing at an alarming rate.

 _We know this_. Annabeth’s voice whispered to him, as Percy parried a blow from Antaeus, nearly tripping over his own feet. The monsters that encircled their duel laughed, and he heard Megan dueling something creepy behind him.

 _Concentrate, Seaweed Brain!_ Annabeth’s voice said soothingly. _Where is he vulnerable?_

When he’s not touching the ground. Percy didn’t know if Antaeus had any control over water, and he prayed silently that his dad hadn’t blessed his other son with any cool powers. All he needed was the perfect opportunity...

It never came.

Antaeus charged Percy, who sidestepped at the last moment, slashing a diagonal gash across his half-brother’s back. Antaeus howled in pain, and swung his mace so fast Percy didn’t have time to get out of the way. It collided with his left arm, and Percy howled with pain, collapsing onto the ground, blood gushing out of the wound.

**25 - Connor**

Saying Connor felt like the most useless demigod ever was like saying Clarisse had mild anger management issues.

It had taken him years to gain any sense of leadership at Camp. Even now, people still were a little twitchy around him, worried that he might prank the crap out of them. Which he would, but still, when it came down to it, he was a cabin leader (well, co-leader) and people would usually trust him judgment (somewhat) in Capture the Flag. In the Titan War, he had finally got a chance to prove himself, after years and years of hiding in other’s shadows. And he did prove himself, taking the lead over people he had known for years, finally gaining an inkling of their trust and respect.

A.J. knew the others for all of, y’know, _thirty seconds_ , and they instantly started putting their lives in her hands. A.J. and Laura immediately became friends, and were chattering away as they led the little group south towards the bottommost border, where the Argo II was causing a major ruckus with some of the smaller (if you can call a giant _smaller_ ) Giants. A.J.’s battle plans were basically “Join the battle, help out, and just generally destroy the bad guys without getting killed”.

Connor could respect that, but he still felt a little miffed that she had managed to become a leader so fast, instead of having to throw in years of effort like everyone else. Bloody Big Three kids, always snatching up all the attention and glory.

Laura had noticed the tape melted into A.J.’s wrists, and immediately went into a full-on panic.

“Oh gods…gods, what the Hades happened to you!?” She poked the blistered skin, and A.J. yelped in pain, jerking her wrist away from the girl.

“Jeez…it’s not so bad, Laura. Just a little tape.” She said, trying in vain to look nonchalant, but Connor saw her wince. A.J. was in serious pain, despite the massive amounts of ambrosia and nectar already in her system.

“Um, yes it is.” Laura ignored the girl’s pleas of letting it go, forcing her to sit down on a local rock. “You’re going to be useless if a gentle poke causes that much pain to your system.” She pulled her boots off, yanking the bottoms off to reveal secret compartments containing the essentials of a small first-aid kit.

“Laura, this is a waste of time! I’ll be fine; we should keep-“ A.J. protested, trying to stand, but Laura forced her back down, waving Bryan and Melanie over to them.

“Sorry blondie, but Doctor Laura says you need attention _now._ Do you have any idea what kind of toxins are in duct tape glue? Like, really bad ones.” She pulled out a pair of rubber gloves, snapping them onto her wrists, and then pulled out a surgical knife. A.J.’s eyes flew open, pupils dilating in fear as Laura checked the blade against the bottom of her t-shirt. She jerked up, trying to scramble away from the girl, a small whimper escaping her lips.

“Laura, please. Please, please don’t… _don’t!”_ She looked like her nightmares were spilling into reality, and she shivered convulsively, trying to pull herself into a ball, knees tucking into her chest. Laura grabbed her shoulders before she could get out of the way, forcing her to lie back down on the rock.

“Bryan, Melanie, hold her down. If she moves while I’m cutting this off…well, I’m pretty sure she needs both arms.”

Connor’s eyes widened slightly in alarm. How sharp _was_ that thing? A.J. sent him a pleading look as Melanie pinned down her right arm at the elbow and at her palm, while Bryan held down her shoulders. _Please_. She mouthed desperately. _Connor, please! Make them STOP!_ She was shaking now, her entire body trembling. Connor couldn’t tell if it was in pain or terror, but the look in her eyes was one of absolute fear, like a caged animal. Laura tried to sooth the girl, assuring her that it would hurt far less once the tape was gone, but A.J. wasn’t listening. She was thrashing back and forth, practically in tears. “NO!” she said, her voice a choked-up wail. “I…I won’t! Please, Connor, make her _STOP!_ ”

He shook his head, eyes downcast. Connor really did want to help her, but he knew his protests would be ignored. Laura was ridiculously stubborn, and though Connor didn’t want to admit it, she could probably take him in a fight if it came to that.

“Please…” she begged. He wouldn’t look up, wouldn’t look her in the eyes, because he knew if he did, he would have to listen and make Laura stop. Connor knew that it was probably for the better-the tape was causing the girl so much pain. It probably wouldn’t hurt as badly if she let Laura treat it. “ _Connor_...NO!” She gasped, and Connor almost looked up, but he forced himself to keep his eyes averted. He heard a ripping noise, and then a rhythmic _sch-sch_ noise, like sawing. A.J. cried out in pain, choking up sobs as Laura gently slid the scalpel under the tape, freeing her arms.

“A.J., breathe, okay?” Laura gently rubbed the girl’s shoulder, trying to get her to calm down. “Connor, I need you to open a pack of gauze for me, okay?”

He nodded wordlessly, walking over to them with eyes still averted. Ripping open the plastic with shaking fingers, he nearly dropped the pristine white roll on the ground, but caught it with lightning reflexes, passing it to Laura.

There was a long moment of silence, and then Laura stood up, moving to A.J.’s other side. “Half way there, girl!”

There was no response from A.J. and Connor sneaked a peek. She lay on the rock, unmoving, her right arm covered in a neat bandage. Her chest’s unsteady rise and fall was the only sign of life in her still form, except for the occasional twitch that would rack her entire body with spasms.

“Is she…like, unconscious?” He asked hesitantly.

“Oh, no.” Laura shook her head in disdain. “She can hear everything that we’re saying. I think it’s some kind of survival instinct-trying to blend in, make herself not look like a target. If she was a chameleon, that would be great. Right now, not so much. Ooooooh, what’s this?” She picked up A.J.’s limp wrist, showing it to Connor.

“Um…Roman tattoos?”

Laura rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. “Not her tats, you moron! Her bling!” She poked the charm bracelet wrapped around her wrist.

Connor shrugged. “Dunno, but you should hurry up. I think we’re being watching.” The hair on the back of his neck was prickling, like many pairs of eyes were glued to his face. Everyone except Laura stood, surveying their surroundings. There wasn’t much to see, just piles of rocks and dirt, and a few tents on the outer border of the camps. Behind them, the top of Mount Olympus glowed brightly, occasionally emitting loud flashes of lightning.

Laura set to work on A.J.’s left arm, working without the aid of Bryan and Melanie, as A.J. was about as lifeless as a rag doll, still sprawled out on the stone. After scraping the remnants of the tape (a process Connor’s stomach wished he hadn’t watched) off her forearm, she bound it neatly, and shook the girl’s shoulder gently.

“A.J.” she said. “Get your lazy butt up.” She shook the girl's shoulder a little harder.

There was no response from her, but a reptilian voice slithered out of the shadows just beyond their eyesight.

“Hello, demigodssss. Welcome to your deathssss.”

**26 - no POV**

_**On Board the Argo II** _

The four teenagers stood on the top deck, reclining on the railing and watching the battle rage below. Streaks of red and gold flashed beneath them, and the angry roars of monsters echoed upwards. Occasionally, a piercing scream would crease through the air, making the three boys flinch. The girl remained motionless, staring down at the scene below her, as the ballistae and cannons around them fired volley after volley into enemy ranks.

“We’re nearly there.” One boy straightened up, studying the horizon, where massive figures stalked in the distance, roaring and shaking clubs and swords. In the glowing light of the flames below and the lights on deck, he looked much older and more weary-shadows elongated his cheekbones, brown hair shrouding his crystal-blue eyes that glimmered, reflecting the flames around them. He looked as if the weight of the world had rested on his shoulders, and he was preparing to bear the burden once more. “You guys ready for this?”

“No.” The others chorused, giving him sarcastic glares. He sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes, as if he had expected this as a response.

“We time traveled.” One of the boys said, wiping grease-stained fingers off on his already-filthy jeans.

“And met out parents _as kids_.” The girl said, rolling her eyes and tucking her long curls into a ponytail.

“And now we’re driving their ship and helping with their war.” The second boy said, flipping his black hair out of his eyes. “A war, that, y’know, nobody really expected them to win in the first place.”

The girl elbowed him in the gut. “Jake, don’t say that. People have always had confidence in them-either they’re leaders at a camp, or they just have super-ultra-mega-cool awesome powers of awesomeness. I mean, Hera chose them for a reason, right? Both sides have to believe in them at least a _little_.”

“Super-ultra-mega-cool awesome powers of awesomeness?” The first boy raised his eyebrows at her. “You sound like A.J.”

“Is that a bad thing?” She retorted, glaring up at him.

“Yes. No. Maybe?” He fumbled slightly, and the girl laughed at him.

“Just be glad she isn’t here, Orion, or she’d kick your butt back to our time.” She strode up the deck, the boys jogging to keep up with her swift pace.

“She would not.” Orion grumbled, but the girl seemed to not hear him, and continued up the deck of the ship, making her way towards the prow.

“Festus!” The greasy-handed boy said happily, patting the dragon on the head. Festus’s head squeaked, and the gears in his head whirred slightly. He blew another gust of flame down upon the army of monsters, who cringed in its wake, a few of them exploding on impact. “Hey bud!”

The dragon whirred slightly, and the boy blushed a little. “Right, sorry. I forgot. You know me in the future. I’m Sammy.”

The head turned to him, and tilted slightly to the left, ruby eyes staring at Sammy unblinkingly. Then he blew a column of flames at his head. Emma, Jake, and Orion all flinched slightly, taking a few cautionary steps back, but Sammy stood at the heart of the blaze, laughing.

Snapping his jaws shut, Festus turned away, and continued to survey the battle below them. Sammy’s hair was a flaming mess, but he looked immensely pleased with himself.

“I think he likes me!” He declared happily.

The other three shared a look of deep concern, before joining him at the tip of the prow, Emma being especially careful not to get too close to the burning boy.

“So who are we facing again?” Jake asked darkly. “Because you and A.J. did that thing where you finish each other’s ideas and are totally on the same page and don’t have to do much discussing and just understand absolutely everything by staring deep into each other's eyes for like ten minutes, which really pisses me off, because I have no idea what the Hades we’re up to.” He shot Orion with a pointed glare, who turned faintly pink at the accusation.

“We do _not_ -“

“Orion.” Emma smacked him on the back of the head. “Shut up. We _all_ know that Jake’s right, so stop complaining about it and tell us what the plan is.”

Orion muttered something under his breath about having insufferable friends who liked to see things that weren’t really there, and Emma smacked him again.

“All right, all right!” He snapped, giving her a dirty look. “Battle plans. _That_ -“He pointed behind them, past the camp and the patch of scrublands, to where the ground tilted steeply upwards. “Is Mount Olympus. Right now, it’s closed off from us, which is bad for us, but also good because our enemies can’t get into it either. Gaea needs the blood of two demigods: one girl, one guy, preferably two of the Seven, more specifically, Uncle P and Aunt Annabeth. If she spills it right there, in front of the gates at the base of the mountain, then she’ll get access to Olympus, which is really _really_ bad.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” Jake drawled sarcastically. “Can we get to the stuff that we don’t actually know yet?”

“I’m getting to it! Gods….” Orion rolled his eyes. “That’s what we’re doing here-trying to keep them away from the gates to Olympus for as long as possible. And while we’re at it, kill as many Giants as possible, so that when it comes down to it, they’ll only be facing Gaea and a small portion of her army, not all of these baddies. We’re here to help with the minor Banes, while our parents go after the bigger ones. They’ve already managed to kill Alcyoneus in Alaska, Enceladus in California, Polybotes at Camp Jupiter, Ephialtes and Otis in Rome, and Clytius and Mimas at Epirus.”

“So that leaves us with…?” Jake asked, speaking slowly and clearly as if talking to a three year old.

“Jake, could you just not?” Orion glared at him fiercely. “I’m getting to it! So we’re left with Eurytos, Pallas, Hippolytos, Aigaion, Agrios, Thoon, and Porphyrion. We all know Porphyrion is the final battle-he and his mom are going to be the last to go. Eurytos is Hera’s Bane, Thoon is Aphrodite’s, Pallas is Athena's, and Agrios is Demeter’s. Since the three of them are some of the older gods, we’re leaving them to the ‘adults’.” He finger quoted adults sarcastically. “ Hippolytos, Hermes’ bane, and Aigaion, Ares’ bane, will be left to us, but for now, we’re not going to try and kill them. Keep them busy, and away from the Seven long enough for them to finish the bigger Giants, and then give them enough cover to start fighting our three. Make sense?” His voice crescendoed slightly as he spoke, force plowing through his words. Not the charm speaking type of force, but a more desperate, fearful thing, feral from deep in his gut.

Jake blinked at him, deep brown eyes looking slightly surprised behind his curtains of inky black hair. “Wow. That was loud.”

“Insightful as ever, Jake.” Sammy said calmly, not even noticing the fact that his hair was still in flames. “Hey, is it just me, or is it really hot out? Is this what Global Warming is like?” He fanned his face, flopping a hand around as the fire danced in the slight breeze. The three others stared at him weirdly.

“Er…Sam?” Orion said awkwardly.

“Yuppers?” He continued to wave his hand in his face.

“Your hair is on fire. _Again_.”

**27 - percy**

Pain.

White-hot,blistering pain, like his arm was a marshmallow, being skewered and roasted over a campfire. Percy had never felt so vulnerable, had never felt such loss of control. He was suddenly-horrifically-aware of his own mortality, a fact that he had thrust aside after years of training and taking on (and eventually losing) the curse of Achilles.

Losing to Chyrsaor on the Argo II had dented him enough. It had been terrifying, knowing that there were monsters out there that he couldn't defeat, that someday, he might not win, and he and his friends would...well, die. A feeling of worthlessness washed over him-he wasn't the hero he needed to be to protect the people he loved.

Antaeus has shattered him. Shattered his hopes and dreams. He couldn't win, he was never going to be able to win, and he was going to die then and there, on the packed earth and stone of the battlefield. Percy wasn't a hero-he was just some unlucky idiot the gods favored for a while, and then just cast aside when he needed them the most.

He dropped to his knees, clutching his injured arm to his chest, sticky crimson blood still gushing out of his wound. Silent tears dropped down his face, and he did nothing to stop them-what good could it possibly do?

He could hear the boos and jeering laughter of the circle of monsters around them. From behind him came a terrified scream, a high, piercing note that was silenced, but he ignored this too, staring blankly down at the ground, which seemed to swirl with life beneath him.

Antaeus laughed, a heart bellow that silenced the surrounding army. "Poor little Percy Jackson..." He mocked, pacing in front of him, weaving in and out of Percy's line of vision. "All alone. Defeated. Nowhere to run. You're not a hero, Jackson. You're a coward. The gods chose you out of pity. Our father must be so ashamed of you right now. But he won't have to live with the pain much longer." He leaned closer and caught a tear as it dropped off Percy's nose. "What's this? Are you...crying, Jackson? Crying like a little girl? Crying because you're so useless? Because you'll never see your pretty little girlfriend again? Gaea's got big plans for that one, you know. Pity she won't be here to see you die."

The crowd roared with laughter, but Percy couldn't hear them. His girlfriend...Annabeth. Memories raced through his mind-her spoon-feeding him ambrosia on his first day at camp. Holding up the sky for her. The Labrynth. Her taking Ethan Nakumura's poisoned knife, to save him. Their first kiss-once on the dining pavilion, and once underwater. Seeing her again at New Rome. That night in the stables. The hell of Tartarus. Making plans to win the final battle, her standing next to A.J., correcting her every-

A.J.

Would she die, if he did? Or simply cease to exist? Her friend's memories of her, erased?

But if she never existed...how did he know her? If he died here and now, at Antaeus' hands, she would never have been born, would never have been able to come to this time.

Finally, Seaweed Brain. Annabeth's voice floated teasingly through his mind. You can't die here. Now think. How do you get out of this?

The starts of a plan began forming, as Antaeus strutted around, boasting to the crowd. It wasn't a very good plan, but it was all he had.

Percy chances a glance down at his arm, and instantly regretted it. The skin was hanging in shreds, barely still connected, and his blood was gushing down, splattering on the rocks beneath him. Percy tore his eyes from the gruesome sight, and slid a hand down into his front pants pocket.

Riptide was safely tucked away, and he pulled it out, keeping it capped. He was going to need both hands for this.

Antaeus turned, and began stalking towards him, macs swinging threateningly. The crowd had gone absolutely silent, waiting for Antaeus to strike, and finally end it, once and for all.

Percy waited. One-fifteen feet away. Two-ten feet. Three-six feet.

Balling his fists, he shoved himself upwards, scrambling onto his feet. His face flushed with blood at the sudden effort, spots dancing across his vision, and he bit back a howl of pain as his injured arm buckled beneath his weight.

Antaeus raised his eyebrows. "A valiant effort, Jackson. But you are merely prolonging the inevitable!"

Percy ignored him, and closed his eyes, concentrating all of his anger and hatred for Antaeus and his mother into his efforts and-

KERSPLOOSH!

The ground around them erupted in a tidal wave, which bore the two of them twenty feet into the air, and knocked many of the surrounding monsters into tangled heaps. Percy felt the water swish over his injured arm, healing it, and giving him an instant adrenaline rush.

"ANTAEUS!" Percy roared, and he was semi-gratified to see that his half-brother bore an expression of either pure terror, or total sugar high.

"Not so brave when mommy can't protect you, huh?" Percy called teasingly. His wave was only going to last another few seconds- he needed o act now

The wave beneath him dropped away, lowering him quickly to the ground, as he uncapped Riptide, holding it skyward like the Statue of Liberty.

Percy let go of the other wave, and Antaeus plummeted towards the ground, letting out an unearthly bellow. He flailed wildly, trying to stop his sudden descent.

Percy looked away, glaring at his shoes.

There was a wet, sickening, bone-splintering CRUNCH, and Percy knew that Antaeus had just become living shish-kebab on Riptide's blade. There was a piercing howl, and then it was cut off, as he disintegrated, coating Percy in a fine layer of golden dust.

It was over, but it felt like a hollow victory to Percy. He hasn't really won. He had cheated. He wasn't good enough.

There was no signed his platoon, and the monsters were already taking to their feet, groggy and soaking after his trick. Now was the perfect time to vanish.

Percy lowered Riptide and set off at a run, clutching his ruined arm to his chest and taking solace in his pounding strides towards his enemies.

**28 - connor**

The hissing inched closer, but Connor was frozen in shock. How did these monsters manage to get all the way out here? They would have had to…to…

They would have had to get past the campers.

Their defenses were crumbling.

The gates to Mount Olympus could be compromised.

They might… _lose._

.

Laura gave a startled gasp, and Connor assumed that she had come to the same conclusion as he had. He heard her gently shaking A.J.’s half-limp body.

“Um, A.J.?” she said, sounding awkward at talking to her in her current…state. “Now would be a really great time for you to bust out some ninja moves and beat these guys up, right? Um…like, soon?”

The hissing inched closer, and was almost in range of the reflections of their blades. Whoever they were, they were getting close.

“Little demigods….” The voice purred from the shadows to their right, making them all jump. They had a faint accent that Connor couldn’t quite place…Middle Eastern, maybe? “You are far from your brethren…A sad misfortune on your part…they will never find your bodies…not that anyone will be around to search…”

“Show yourself!” Nick shouted, sounding braver than he looked, with his knees knocking together, hands shaking slightly on his bow. Connor mentally cursed at him. It was his first real fight, and he was already challenging things more powerful than himself without even knowing what they were.

“Are you sure you want me to?” A pause. “Very well. But don’t say I didn’t warn you…”

The graceful figure of a woman, dressing in a long black dress and an old-fashioned veil sashayed forward, flanked by a dozen or so dracaena, all wearing full battle armor and carrying long spears. The woman reached up to remove her veil-

“NO!” The shout came from behind him. “Eyes shut, all of you! NOW!”

Connor didn’t even have time to comprehend A.J.’s cry, but he squeezed his eyes shut tightly on instinct. Red and gold swirled across the blackness, forming shapes and patterns on his eyelids.

There was a terrified yelp, and then a sound like someone packing a snowball.

“Oh…oh, no…Nick!” A.J. cried, sounding incredibly worried. “NICK! If you can hear me, say something!”

Silence. Nothing but the slight gusts of wind, the hissing of the monsters, and the distant clashing of the two armies.

A.J. muttered several unladylike words under her breath, all aimed at the woman in the veil. “Whatever you do, don’t open your eyes! Not even a tiny peek under your lashes!”

They stood frozen in place, afraid to move. Connor half-held his breath, silently praying that this wasn’t the monster he thought it was. A monster everyone had hoped would stay dead for a few more decades…

“Yes little demigods…not a little peek…” The woman hissed mockingly. “Not even a tiny glimpse…but you’re curious little heroes, aren’t you? You want to know who I am, don’t you? Just a look and you’ll have your answer…” Her voice moved closer and closer, and Connor’s head started spinning. He _was_ curious…he _did_ want to know who she was…what harm could a tiny little peek do, anyways? His eyelids started fluttering out of his control, almost lifting and…

A sharp jolt of pain racked his previously injured foot, and his eyes almost flew open in pain anyways, but he remembered A.J.’s warning at the last second, and kept them clamped shut.

“You idiot.” Someone whispered in his ear softly. “Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed? You do realize who that is, right?”

“Umm…maybe?” Connor hoped she would tell him that he was completely wrong and being a total idiot like usual.

She stomped on his foot once more, leading into it until his toes howled in pain. “That. Is. _Freaking_. Medusa. So keep your eyeballs shut, and help us kill her until she dies?” The girl (he now recognized her as Laura) (only that redhead could be inches from death and still sass in people’s faces) leaned up into him, her breath warm on his ear. “Am. I. Clear?”

“Right, if you two are done _flirting_ , I could use some help making these things die already!” A.J. called over to them in mock disgust.

“How are we supposed to fight if we can’t open our eyes!?” Laura yelled back, quickly taking a few steps away from Connor.

“I don’t know…figure something out…or something?”

“You’re _so_ helpful.” Laura snapped.

A.J. cursed loudly, which was coupled with a loud THWACK-SCHKKKKK noise, and something heavy fell to the ground, bouncing a little. “Ugh, just another dracaena. Lame.” Her voice turned sing-songy. “Oh Me-du-sa! Come out and fight us!”

“Open your eyes, girlie…” Medusa teased, her voice low and mocking. “You’ll see me soon enough!”

“I’m not completely stupid, you know!”

“Of course not…if you were stupid, you’d keep your eyes closed. I can promise you a painless death, descendant of Poseidon…your statue will remain untouched in the fortress of the Giants.”

“Tempting.” A.J. drawled. “But the thing is, I’m not all Poseidon. And if there’s one thing the other side of the family is good at, it’s setting a trap. An ability I inherited. So now if you’re excuse me…”

There was a loud metallic sound, like skates slapping against the surface of a rink, and then a loud THUNK, followed by a screech of pain. Then two loud slices, like bad sound effects in a ninja movie, coupled with a wet slurpy ripping.

“Okayyy…that’s _disgusting_.” A.J. sounded both horrified and fascinated at the same time. “Don’t open your eyes just yet, okay?”

She shuffled around slightly, and Connor was half-sure she was wringing out a massive sponge over there. Copious amounts of liquid were splattering on the ground, accompanied by the snowball-packing sounds from earlier.

“Right then.” She said, making a gagging noise in the back of her throat. “That’s reeeeeeeaaaalllly disgusting…Connor, take your shirt off.”

Everyone froze, and Connor felt heat rising to his face. _Take his shirt off?_ Was she mentally damaged or something?

Laura had a loud coughing fit, and Connor scooched over next to her, patting her back automatically, his brain still half-frozen over A.J.’s words.

“I…um…what…don’t know…huh?” He managed to stammer out.

“Take your shirt off." A.J. repeated impatiently. "I need to wrap the head in something so we don't all _die_?"

“Oh.” Connor really wanted to just curl up in a corner and die of shame, but he obediently peeled his Camp T-shirt off and chucked it towards the sound of her voice. He felt Laura slide a couple inches away from him, and he was pretty sure his face was glowing like a firefly’s butt in embarrassment. He wrapped his arms around his torso and waited for A.J. to give them the go-ahead to open their eyes.

There was a few seconds of scuffling sounds, fabric being snapped out, and some gut-wrenching squelches that made Connor’s breakfast want to make a second appearance.

“Okay, we’re good…I think…” A.J. said cheerily. Connor opened his eyes fractionally, and when he didn’t feel any signs of statue-ifying, he opened them fully to look around.

Ten dracaena statues stood in a semicircle, with expressions of shock and horror plastered across their faces. A.J. stood in the middle of them, holding a bag made out of his shirt that was being soaked from the basket-ball shaped object inside it. She was glancing over the area, surveying the damage and making sure that nobody was missing any vital organs. (Connor was barely spared a glance, which he was grateful for in his shirtless state. )

“No!” Melanie cried, sprinting towards her, and for half a second, Connor was sure she was going to attack the other girl, but she slid to a stop beside one of the statues, tears streaking down her face. “No…NICK! Please…” She swirled, and gave A.J. a pathetic look. “Tell me it isn’t permanent! Can’t you…can’t you…use the head to make…make him a person again?”

A.J. shook her head slightly. “I’m sorry Melanie…he’s gone. You don’t ever come back from an attack by Medusa…”

“NO!” Melanie crumpled to the ground. A.J. sat down a foot away, setting the head on the ground behind her.

“Gods, Melanie…I’m really sorry. But there’s nothing I can do…nothing any of us can do for him anymore. He’ll get Elysium, I’m sure, and-“

Melanie turned her tear-stained face up to A.J.’s. “Stop. Just. _Stop_.” She burst into tears once more, and doubled over.

“Melanie…” A.J. leaned over as if to pat her on the back, but rethought it quickly, and let her hand fall to the ground. “I really am sorry, and I wish I-“

“Shut up already! Just shut up! This is your fault! Nick's dead and it's all your fault! If you hadn't shown up and dragged us here-" Melanie howled, her body racked with sobs, making her spasm on the ground.

"He's DEAD! I bet you don't even know what it feels like-I bet Romans don't even care when their friends and family die, they just move on and conquer something else! Don't tell me you're sorry for my loss, cause you’re not! YOU DON’T KNOW HOW THIS FEELS!"

A.J.’s eyes flashed angrily, and her hands clenched into fists. Connor was mentally preparing for her to attack the other girl until-

An explosion rocked them all, and Connor nearly fell on his face. The ground rumbled and roared beneath them, and Laura toppled over next to him, sprawling out. The earth beneath them seemed to rebel against itself, tides of rock and shale rising up and crashing beneath them. Melanie let out a super-sonic shriek that made him want to carve his eardrums out with a rusty spork.

A.J. shouted something, pointing in the distance towards the battlefield. Connor spun, just as the ground buckled once more, sending him crashing back. His last vision was of the Argo II careening about, smoke billowing wildly, and A.J. throwing Laura (when had she managed to stagger to her feet?) the head, shouting some indistinguishable instructions, and then running off as the ground heaved up and tossed him upwards once more, to crash in an unconscious heap between two boulders.

**29 - Annabeth**

Annabeth was sick of Romans. They bustled around, shouting orders, and generally ignoring her presence. One of them, some guy with Kool-Aid stains, staggered around like a pirate with too much rum in him, and had nearly knocked her over several times, while he sang a drinking song in Latin.

“Psst. Girlie.”

Annabeth flinched, shoving Kool-Aid boy away from her. Nothing but Romans as far as she could see. Maybe one of them thought making her think she was going crazy was a good idea for a prank. Or she really was going crazy…after all her time in Tartarus, she wouldn’t have been too surprised if she started hearing voices.

“Owl Girl!”

The voice came from behind her this time, seemingly coming from one of the centurion’s Pegasus. Last time Annabeth checked, Percy was the only one who could actually chat with them, so she started to panic a little worse.

“Ugh! Blondie! Come. Here. Behind. The. Pony.”

Annabeth ducked around a few milling soldier, nearly getting impaled on one of their not-so-friendly looking spears. The Pegasus was clopping around, its feathered wings ruffling up in annoyance as someone on the other side stamped around. She placed two fingers on the hilt of her knife, ready to yank it out and slam it through the throat of whoever was behind the stupid horse.

“Gods, you take forever…I thought your mom was supposed to be the goddess of wisdom, not the goddess of people who don’t understand obvious stuff.”

Annabeth relaxed as the burly form of her favorite spear-wielding red-brown haired daughter of Ares came into view, pressed up against the winged horse’s flank.

“Clarisse!” She said happily, pulling the reluctant girl into a tight hug, which she shied away from. “Gods, you have _no_ idea how good it is to see you.”

“Why? What happened?” Clarisse barked, grabbing her by the shoulders and studying her face closely. “If Jackson got you pregnant, and that’s why you’re being all weird, I’ll beat the snot out of him, so help me gods!”

Annabeth felt her face go slightly pink, and an image of A.J. flashed through her head. Stupid spies, trying to convince her of things that were clearly impossible. Clarisse though…Clarisse would understand. She’d see through it.

“Ma’am!”

Both girls turned to see a young Roman soldier, probably barely thirteen, glaring at Clarisse. Annabeth assumed he was talking to her.

“Yes?” 

“Has there been a change of plans, ma’am? We were told to carry one demigod to the Gigantes, not…two.” He said the word ‘two’ as if it had a disgusting meaning behind it. Beside Annabeth, Clarisse bristled, hands flying to her spear.

“Why you little…” She growled, and she and the boy gave each other fierce glares, the Roman’s hands twitching towards his swordbelt.

“That’s enough!” Annabeth spat. “Your orders remain the same. This is my personal friend and one of the best soldiers we have. She doesn’t need you to ‘carry’ her anywhere, and will accompany me and my squad to the Gigantes.”

The boy glared at them both now. “Fine. Centurion Dakota sent me to tell you that you’re not to join the fight until we’ve cleared the first ranks, and then we’re going to slip you and a few… _others_ around the sides.”

“Very well.” Annabeth waved a hand at him. “You can go. Dismissed or whatever.” He turned on heel and marched away stiffly, hands clenched into fists. She turned back to Clarisse. “What were we talking about?”

“You. Jackson. Did the do. Preggo.” Clarisse leaned against Pegasus, who neighed and bucked, clomping nervously. “I know that you guys are like, in love forever, or whatever the Aphrodite cabin keeps yammering on about, but for real, this is just wrong. Gods, the idea of a little mini Percy running around-ugh, makes me sick! Couldn’t you have like, used a-“

“Clarisse!” Annabeth hissed, clamping a hand over her mouth. “Gods, shut up! I’m not pregnant!”

“Oh thank the gods…” The sky rumbled, and Clarisse rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m talking about you, don’t get all excited.” She muttered in disgust. “So what _IS_ wrong with you?”

“We’ve got spies. Really, _really_ convincing spies. Well, at least they’re convincing to the others. Their story…well, it’s kinda messed up.”

Clarisse rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard them all. Who do they want you to think they are?”

Annabeth took a deep breath, knowing that the answer sounded completely crazy, and that Clarisse was going to laugh in our face. “Our…our…our **_kids_**.”

Clarisse blinked. Twice. Three times. “Uh…what?”

“Our kids.”

“Oh.” Clarisse’s eyebrows furrowed. “I hafta say, that’s a new one for me.”

“Yeah. And the others are _completely_ buying into it.” Annabeth said in disgust. “So much that if I say even a word against them, everyone explodes at _me!_ ”

Clarisse was silent for a long moment. “Well then. You’ll just have to catch them breaking their story. Where are they now?”

Annabeth groaned. “That’s the worst part. Four are on the Argo II, ‘using it as a diversion’.” She air quoted. “The last is taped to a chair, a guarantee that they won’t betray us? But I doubt that it’ll affect them if they plan on destroying us. Gaea’s probably got them brainwashed into believing that dying for her cause is a heroic thing.”

“I almost feel bad for them.” Clarisse shrugged. “But evil is evil, and evil gets their butts kicked. I want names, ages, weapons, weaknesses, anything you know that I can use to beat the truth out of them.”

“Er…” Annabeth faltered for a few seconds. Her bathroom trip had cost her valuable ‘bonding’ time with the five of them. “Um…well, …I….um…okay, names. ‘Orion Grace’, ‘Emma Zhang’, ‘Sammy Valdez’, ‘Jake di Angelo’ and…and…and ‘A.J. Jac-Jack-Jackso-Jackson.’” She stammered out the last name, blushing terribly for some reason. Stupid girl and her stupid friends and their stupid lies.

“So you and Jackson _do_ do the do?” Clarisse looked both repulsed and fascinated at the same time. “That’s a horrific thought.”

Annabeth stamped her foot in frustration. “She’s not mine! She’s just a faker-she doesn’t even look like me! We’re nothing alike!”

Clarisse lifted an eyebrow. “Description.”

"Blonde, small, green eyes that are _clearly_ contact lenses, uh, fake Roman tattoos, and a charm bracelet she's always jangling around."

Clarisse smirked. “She acts exactly like Percy, doesn’t she?”

Annabeth glared at her. “Of course she does! That’s what he’d want, so Gaea programmed her to be that way! And she has this really good copy of Riptide, like, it’s _good._ But it’s so _fake_ at the same time! And-and-and cookies! Blue chocolate chip cookies, like his mom makes! Oh my gods, they all ate them, they’re probably poisoned and now they’re all going to die, OH MY GODS!” Annabeth clutched Clarisse’s shoulders, shaking her. “We’ve got to go and-and-and help them!”

“Beth, BREATHE.” Clarisse snapped, and Annabeth noted that she had to crunch her neck a bit, like she’d just gotten whiplash. Oops. She hadn’t meant to shake her that hard. “Okay? I believe you. I’ll keep an eye on the others-I mean, come on, there’s a Pegasus right here! We could totally steal it and fly off to kick butt if the Argo II starts going all ‘hey, let’s kill everybody good!’ “

“Huh.” Annabeth murmured studying the Pegasus thoughtfully. “I suppose we could…”

“NO. N-to-the-O, girly. We are not flying the godsdamn horse bird up to a ship full of rockets and explosive stuff all primed and ready. If they are spies, then they’ll blast you out of the sky in half a second. Better to let them bust their own story, remember?”

Annabeth sighed in frustration. “Fine.”

“Ma’ams!” One boy marched up to them, saluting politely, unlike the very rude little twerp from before. “We’ve just started the third wave. I’m here to escort you to your squadron and see you don’t get lost.”

Clarisse didn’t seem to like the boy’s choice of words very much. “Don’t. Get. _Lost_?” She stormed up to him, and Annabeth half-heartedly tried to hold her back. “Do you think we’re _stupid_ or something?”

“Er…er, um, no, of course not, miss!” The boy blushed and held up his hands in a placating gesture. “It’s just that-“

“You think I’m dumb?! You think I can’t find my way through your little military camp!?” Clarisse roared.

“Clarisse!” Annabeth muttered in warning, seeing the boy’s face turn slightly purple.

“Maybe in _your_ society we girls aren’t worth much, but I ain’t no stinking Roman!”

Annabeth knew that Clarisse had just crossed the line in the worst way possible. If the boy was anything like Jason…well, you really didn’t want to be insulting their honor if you valued your life.

“Well at least _I’m_ not a filthy Greek!” The boy spat, and lunged towards Clarisse, who drew Lamer with a wicked grin.

“ _Bring it.”_ She growled, looking eerily happy.

“Clarisse, this is probably the worst idea _ever._ ” Annabeth grabbed her by the shoulders. “Just let it go, and let’s go find our squad, okay?”

“Oh Hades no. I am not about to let that sniveling little-“The boy charged her, gladius drawn, roaring in anger. Clarisse effortlessly sidestepped, smacking him on the butt with the shaft of her spear, giving him a light jolt of electricity. He squealed, and jerked around, catching the tip of his blade across Clarisse’s shoulder. She snorted like a bull and flung herself at him, Annabeth narrowly slipping out of the way as the two brawled around, swapping punches and smacks with their weapons.

The boy’s foot caught on a rut in the ground, and he twisted, falling slightly. Sensing an opportunity, Clarisse lunged, but he deflected the hit with the armor plating on his wrist, kicking up and spinning her around into the Pegasus, who had been getting increasingly agitated as their fight went on. When Clarisse collided with him, he bucked up, snorting and whinnying loudly, before landing hard and making a run for it.

The next thirty seconds happened in slow motion to Annabeth, who had ducked out of the way as she saw the flying horse begin to panic. The Pegasus was half-flying, half-cantering, and slammed straight into a passing weapons convoy. The Romans around it panicked, and one dropped the torch they were navigating the darkness with.

The burlap sacks instantly burst into flames, and in the chaos, the cannons were flipped around on their bases, pointing them straight up towards the sky. The flickering embers rushed closer and closer to the wicks, sizzling and popping as they rushed upwards towards the base.

“No.” Annabeth breathed. “Nobody in their right mind would leave a-“

The cannon exploded, and a fiery chunk of metal zoomed upwards, arcing through the air before solidly impacting with something very large and very bronze cruising across the sky, guns blazing.

“-loaded cannon lying around.” She finished softly.


	4. Chapters 30-41

**30 - jason**

Jason was about to give up hope altogether. He, Frank, and Hazel had been crouching under their outcropping for what felt like hours, though with his ADHD, it was probably only about five or six minutes. Percy was still a no show, and he could see the worry starting to knit into Hazel's brow. Gaea’s army was sweeping closer and closer to the base of Olympus, and they didn’t have time to waste waiting for him.

“We’re not going on without Percy.” Frank said, studying his face intently, seeing straight though the composed mask Jason was putting on. “We need all seven of us or-“

“I know.” Jason said, raising his hands soothingly. “We’ll give him another minute or so. He’ll just have to hurry to catch up with us later if he’s not here by then.”

They squatted in the dust for what seeming like eons. To pass the time, he and Hazel played games of tic-tac-toe with the tips of their blades in the dirt. 

“He’s not coming.” Jason half-stood, staying beneath the shelves of rock, dusting off his jeans. “We’re going to have to head out. Who do you wanna fight first, Thoon or-“

“Jason.” Hazel tugged on his sleeve, but he ignored her, checking the blade of his gladius on the hem of his shirt.

“Agrios? Agrios’d be easier, there’s not much wheat can-“

“Jason!” Hazel poked him rapidly in the arm. Jason plowed on, knowing that she would protest, insist on waiting for Percy, and he knew that one look into her pathetic big gold eyes and he’d be toast.

“Do to you. I mean, it’s a freaking plant!”

“JASON!” Hazel snapped, and he jerked around to face her. “Look!”

She pointed at a hazy figure, staggering through the darkness towards them. Jason’s hand tensed around the grip of his sword. _Monster._

“What the Pluto do you think you’re doing?!” Hazel smacked his sword wrist, and the blade nearly clattered out of his hand. “Can’t you see who it is?”

The figure shuffled closer, stirring up clouds of dirt, though the person was already so drenched in black and green goo with a fine layer of brown and gold dust that it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Their back was hunched, almost pitifully, as they slogged across the ground, not even bothering to conceal their presence from intruders. Something in their right hand was glowing even in the near pitch-blackness, and the fine coating of red along the length of it.

“Riptide…”Jason breathed softly. “Which means…” He looked up into the face of his cousin, who stared blankly back at him, green eyes glazed over and dull. “ _Percy.”_

They sat him down, Frank giving him a few sips of water from his canteen. He was breathing hard, panting, even, knees drawn up to his chest, flinching if any of them made a sudden movement. Hazel was carefully checking him over, finding the worst of his injuries and cleaning them as best she could under the circumstances. A long, shallow cut on the outside of his thigh. A series of bloody indents on his side and up his chest, like someone had been whaling on him with a meat cleaver. A gruesome slashed up forearm that looked recently healed but still horrific. Coupled with a varied assortment of other slashes, scrapes, and bruises, he was a sorry sight.

“Are you well enough to fight?” Jason asked, polishing Riptide on the hem of his jeans, clearing the blade of all residual monster gunk.

“Jason!” Hazel snapped, turning to look at him in shock. “He’s not well enough to do anything in this condition!”

“Even…even…” Percy hacked loudly, his chest rising and falling limply. “Even if…if I could fight…not a point.”

“ _Percy._ ” Hazel swept his hair off his forehead, revealing a large lump caked in blood which she hurriedly began to clean up and bandage with a strip of her sleeve. “There’s always a point to fight.”

“Not…not worth it…” Percy groaned as she brushed her fingers lightly across the wound, spreading water to clear the congealed blood. “Hurts…”

“Percy.” Jason said, making him look him in the eye. “It’s always worth it.”

“Not…not this time…” Percy coughed a bit more. “Not gonna…gonna…win…can’t…”

“Percy, don’t say that!” Hazel reprimanded sternly. “It’s that kind of talk that’ll…well, jinx us. You just have to believe that we’ll win this, okay?”

“Nothing…nothing left worth…fighting for.” Percy’s head drooped onto his shoulder and sank down lower into the rock face.

Jason stiffened. Those were the very words he dreaded to hear come from his cousin’s mouth. There was always something left worth fighting for, and if Percy was going to give up on that then there really wasn’t much hope left for any of them, was there?

“Percy…” Hazel said softly, picking up his hand and squeezing it gently. “There’s always got to be something worth fighting for. Even if you can’t see it right now, it’s still there, in here.” She tapped him lightly on the chest. “You just have to believe in it, right?”

Percy looked at her blankly. “How can you go on saying those things? Those are words, Hazel, and words don’t win wars.”

“You know that’s not true.” Frank snapped. “I’m the child of Ares, I should know. A word is just as powerful a weapon as a sword. You know the quote ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’? It applies in real life.”

Percy gave him a look. “Frank, I have a sword that is also sometimes a pen. The sword form is a Hades of a lot more useful than the pen form, so don’t throw your inspirational bullshit at me.” He looked Jason in the eye. “You can go on, if you like. But I’m staying right here. Probably won’t last too long, but that’s okay. Better dead than living under Gaea, eh?”

Jason was lost for words. How could Percy say that, how could he believe that, how could he just give up on them like that? He made it through Tartarus, recovered from that hell. Something on the way there snapped him. Something inside him was _wrong._

“Hazel, Frank…” He looked at them. “Go on ahead of us. Go for Thoon. I’ll rendezvous with you in a few. I need a…private word with my cousin.”

Hazel looked like she was going to protest, but Frank grabbed her arm and quickly led her away, and they stumbled off, running towards the giants.

“Percy.”

“Yes, that’s my name. What do you want?”

“You can’t do this.”

“Why not.”

“Annabeth.”

Percy glared up at him. Jason knew it was a bit of a low blow, but he was going to take it.

“If you stay here, she could die. And if she dies-“ He paused, realizing he had something in his arsenal that Percy’s loyalty couldn’t hope to compete with. “Then A.J. never gets born. None of your kids do. And I’m willing to bet that if she doesn’t make it, the rest of ours won’t either.”

“You weren’t there.” Percy said, head drooping like a scolded puppy. “You didn’t see Antaeus. Didn’t hear him. Didn’t see what he could do, didn’t see how useless we are! How…how useless _I_ am.” He added the last part in a whispered afterthought.

“Percy.” Jason said sternly, poking his cousin in the chest. “You. Are. Not. Useless. You beat Kronos and Medusa and Hyperion and Polybotes and ten _billion_ other monsters. How could someone that powerful be _useless_?”

“Couldn’t save them all.” Percy mumbled.

“No, you couldn’t. There will always be casualties of war, Percy, everyone knows that. You did the best you could for them, and that’s enough. And if you do this, you’ll be saving a lot more people. Now get your sorry butt off the ground and get back in game, okay?”

Percy rolled his shoulders, and looked up at Jason, a fiery glint lighting up in his eyes. Jason held out a hand and dragged him to his feet. Percy pulled out Riptide and let the bronze glow from the blade light up the area a bit further, so they could see the distant outlines of the giants, and two smaller forms flitting about that could only be Hazel and Frank.

“Let’s do this.” He said quietly, and set out on a limping gait.

 **31 -** **emma**

It was quiet.

But then again, it’s always quiet when you’re deaf. She could feel the vibrations as the boys talked, the clomping of shoes on the deck, the shaking from Festus’s head roaring, but no sound. 

It was positively infuriating sometimes. At least Mom and Dad had seemed okay about it-not going off on their little tizzies, stressing about how she’d manage without being able to hear. As if she couldn’t tell that they were talking about. After five years of lip reading…well, you start getting good at it. The others had been kind as well, attempting to shift their faces towards her so she could follow the conversations and participate. Sammy had played catch-up, too, short-handing it all into sign language for her for when their lips turned just out of sight, so she could keep up (bless him).

Speaking of Sammy, he was flailing about in an attempt to put his flaming hair out, though she was fairly certain that he could have knocked out the blaze in a heartbeat if he really wanted to. Probably just goofing off to cheer them up, which was nice of him. Always thinking about team morale and such.

Which, at the moment, was not that great. A.J. was down there somewhere, tied to a chair. Probably either going crazy or driving her guard that way. Aunt Annabeth was naturally being Aunt Annabeth, shutting her away. They hadn’t really expected her to believe in them (this whole thing simply wasn’t logical, as A.J. had explained, and her mother was a firm believer in logic), but none of them had actually expected that one of them would be left behind, counting on Uncle Percy’s ability to calm her down and make her see sense, which apparently didn’t exist quite yet.

 _We’ll be there soon. Be on your guard._ Orion warned them. _Sam, check the ballistae one more time. We can’t afford to have anything go wron-_

Emma felt it coming; a shivering in her bones, and managed to brace herself on the railings just before the object impacted with the bottom of the ship. The boys weren’t so lucky, not having four finely tuned senses to detect differences in their surroundings, and slipped and skidded across the deck, desperately looking for something to grab onto as the ship listed to the right.

 _We’re hit!_ Sammy said, latching onto the edge of the wheelhouse. _I’ll go below and see what I can do. Emma, do your thing and fly below to scout it out, okay?_

She nodded, turning and flinging herself overboard. Think bird. _Think bird!_ Eagles; big, angry eagles; with their little beady eyes and yellow curved beaks. Long talons and white tail feathers.

Her body shrank down, shafts poking out of her arms, flaps growing and forming muscles, huge wings. Emma’s face writhed about, fire ants scurrying about and reorganizing her feathers, hair shrinking back into its roots and vanishing under a layer of feathers. Her fall stopped abruptly, and she caught an updraft from the plain below that buffeted her upwards towards the hull of the ship, which was leaking smoke and shrapnel.

Something small, probably bowling-ball sized, had blasted into the starboard hull, tearing out a chunk and knocking six oars out of places, two bent at funny angles. It was bad, not something you could repair mid-flight, and they couldn’t afford to touch down to fix it at the moment. Sammy would be able to patch it up, but it would cost them precious minutes that they just didn’t have.

Flapping her wings, she carefully guided herself through the smoldering wreckage, searing the tips of her left wing as she coasted down onto the glass doors. The fire ants returned, remolding her into her regular self. Emma checked herself down for any injuries from the broiling metal. Her sweatshirt was charred and smoking all up the left side, so she shucked it off and threw it out of the hole as Sammy came flying down the stairs.

 _What did that hoodie ever do to you?_ He asked, laughing teasingly. _Did you see anything out there?_

“It’s pretty beat up.” She said, “You could probably patch it up and we’ll be fine.”

He nodded, and began edging his way towards the gap, clinging to the walls to keep himself from getting sucked out into the void. _What do you think it was? Fireball or cannon or what?_

“Definitely cannonball. The edges of it are too rugged for it to be a fireball. Something tore through that.”

He nodded, turning away from her to examine the damage personally. Behind his back, his hands fluttered, signing to her. _Got it. Catch me if I fall, okay? Orion’s too far to hear me screaming in terror._

“Sure.” Emma collapsed onto a pile of blankets in one of the empty stable stalls to watch him work. It was fascinating work, stuff she was sure she’d never in a billion years know how to do, but Sam just did it with an effortless grace, never once doubting himself. He procured a large flat sheet of metal in the exact tone of the hull of the ship from his backpack. Anyone from this time period would think that it was just a giant plate of celestial bronze, but Emma knew better. Reinforced carbon fiber nanos, interwoven with real celestial bronze. Old fashioned by their standards, incredibly high tech to their parents, with twice the durability of regular old celestial bronze plating. And all Sammy would have to do is enter a bit of computer code, and he’d have a patch exactly the right size and shape to seal off the breach. Then he could just weld it shut with his hands, and they’d be shipshape (pun completely intended) in no time.

Sammy sat down with his laptop, hands flying across the invisible keys as he typed out instructions to the nanos, and Emma was able to watch as the sheet bent, warped, and shrank into a replica of the hole.

“Sam?” she asked quietly.

He nodded, ignoring her. She cleared her throat in annoyance and he jerked his head up.

_Sorry! Got lost in the program, you were saying?_

“I think something else is up.”

 _Up?_ He looked at her quizzically, flipping his hair out of his face. _What?_

“I don’t know. I think they,” she waved a hand to the ceiling, “Are hiding something. All those private conversations they’ve been having, clamming up the minute we get within earshot? Something’s going on.”

Sammy frowned, sliding his laptop back into his bag and standing, grabbing the metal patch. _That’s not good. But if it were really serious, they’d tell us, right? Remember how bad it went last time they tried to protect us from the truth? They know that we’re in this boat too, and can’t be left out._

“But we’re not telling them everything either!” Emma said in frustration. “Well, at least we’re selectively withholding information from A.J., but imagine how she’d be if she knew about Liam being-“

 _And Astoria._ Sammy reminded her. _Astoria would throw her over the edge._

“Gods, I don’t even want to think about what she would do if she knew.”

_She’d rain Hades on the Black Knight. Poor bastard doesn’t know what he’s got coming at him._

“He’s not exactly ‘poor’ if he kidnaps and threatens the lives of eight campers.”

 _Hey._ Sammy stopped his welding and walked over to sit with her. _It’ll be okay. We got this. The Medallion will blast him to bits and we’ll get everyone home safe._

“Don’t jinx it just yet, Sam.”

He cupped her face in his hands gently, making her look up at him. _It. Will. Be. Okay. There’s no other way it can end, alright?_

“And if it does-“

 _Don’t jinx it just yet, remember?_ He smiled down at her and let go, heading back to the wall to finish melding the plates.

**32 - hazel - guest chapter by PandasAreEvil456**

Hazel wasn’t sure what to feel.

She found no matter what terrible emotions were overcoming her, whatever words were stuck in her head, whatever memories were dragging her away from the present, or whatever was slowly making her fade from reality, if she was with Frank, she was overcome with a warm and fuzzy feeling. Cheesy? Very.

But it was true. As she held Frank’s hand, everything around her seemed to disappear, as if it was only her and Frank, and they weren’t walking into battle.

“It’s nice out,” Frank murmured, looking around. If he was trying to get her mind off things, he was succeeding.

“Isn’t it?” Hazel mused.

They reached a boulder, having to climb over it, getting closer to their destination. She hoped Percy and Jason would show, but she had her doubts on that as well. Would Jason even be able to convince Percy? Sure, they were cousins, but were they really _that_ close?

She didn’t want to think about that. She wanted to just hold Frank’s hand, put her head on his shoulder, enjoying the small things in life…

Her hopes and dreams shattered when Frank tugged her hand, pulling her behind a huge boulder.

They had reached their destination.

That’s when Hazel felt the fear overcome her, choking her like she was drowning. The sounds of battle that came around her suddenly became so much clearer, booming in her ears. She tightened her grip on Frank’s hand, already sweating.

 _Stop it,_ she scolded herself. _You can’t be scared. When will fear ever help you?_

“You okay?” Frank asked her, looking just as pale as she probably was.

Hazel numbly nodded, trying to overcome her fear. “Let’s come up with a plan first.” She dared a peek from behind the rock, and the very sight of the figures around the size of skyscrapers who she knew as giants made her want to vomit.

She went back to her old position, swallowing down her fear. “We should go for Thoon first. She’s the bane of Aphrodite and I’m betting the easiest.”

Frank nodded. “Good plan. How are we going to do it without catching the other’s giant’s attention, though?”

Hazel gulped. “We can’t.” She admitted in a high pitched voice. “Let’s just hope for the best.”

Frank took a deep breath, gave her hand one last squeeze and stood up. Closing his eyes in concentration, Hazel watched in amazement as Frank walked away from her, his skin stretching, turning a grey colour. His arms and legs became stubby and fat, all four of them now legs. His body became bigger and bigger, becoming so large it wasn’t even a mystery what he had turned into anymore. An elephant.

Hazel snorted as her boyfriend- now an elephant- gave her a quick wink before running out into the field, charging.

She was about to do the same, but hesitated. A gut feeling told her to stay. So, instead of charging, she stayed behind the rock, watching Frank the elephant run up to the giant, head butting it in the stomach, catching Thoon by surprise.

Thoon was like a superstar who had gone on a spiral of drugs and affairs and now looked like a cow had mistaken her for lunch. She was thirty feet tall, with a short and greasy blonde bob with curls and glassy blue eyes.

Hazel was so caught up with the fight that she didn’t notice two figures crouch down beside her until a voice spoke up.

“What’d we miss?”

Hazel turned in surprise and panic, only to be flooded with relief when she saw who the voice belonged to.

She threw her arms around Percy, sending Jason a thankful look over his shoulder. Jason smiled at her.

“Oh my Gods, I thought you weren’t going to come!”

Percy pulled away from Hazel, sent a glance to Jason and softly said, “I changed my mind.”

Hazel pulled the boys up, hugging them both at once. “I don’t _ever_ want to hear those words coming out of your mouth again. Understood?”

“Understood,” Percy mumbled, probably still dazed from his injuries.

“And you also cussed. That’s inappropriate,” Hazel reminded him, earning a snort from both of them.

“Sorry, mom.”

“You should be,” Hazel said, finally pulling away. “Now come on, Frank needs out help.”

As they walked from behind the boulder, Hazel squeezed Jason’s arm, whispering a, “Thank you.” Jason replied with a smile and a nod.

“Ready?” Jason asked, looking around at the other two. They both nodded.

No signal was needed. They ran forward, weapons in hand. Frank was already a huge distraction, and since the three were probably the size of an ant to Thoon, she didn’t see the stabs to the foot coming.

The giant screamed in pain, almost smashing her foot on Jason if Percy and Hazel hadn’t pulled him out the way.

The giant blindly whipped a Louis Vuitton bag, at which everyone raised an eyebrow at, until the end of the bag caught on fire, shots of fire exploding all over the field.

Percy raised his sword, ducking under another ball of fire and jumping before sticking his sword into the Thoon’s ankle. As she gasped in pain, Frank charged forward, right against Thoon’s stomach. She stumbled back, hitting the back of her foot right into Jason’s sword, which was already set into place.

Percy grabbed onto his sword which was still impaled in Thoon’s ankle and used it as something to climb on. As he stood on the sword, he grabbed onto a piece of skin, taking out the sword and impaling it into her knee.

Thoon roared in pain once again, swinging the bag again, and Hazel watched in horror as a fireball hit Percy, making him fly off, landing him hard on his back. Jason took his sword out of Thoon’s foot, and ran on the other side. Hazel ran to help Percy up and she noticed the fight had frozen, Thoon breathing deeply.

“You actually think you can defeat me, you worthless demigods?”

Hazel bent down beside Percy, happy to see he was still conscious and able to comprehend. With a grunt, Hazel pulled him to his feet, and watched as he only stumbled a little before regaining his footing.

When no answer came to Thoon, she laughed in victory.

“See! You’re all too pathetic.”

“Says the woman who looks like Ashley Tisdale on drugs!” Jason yelled.

Thoon turned to Jason, giving him a glare. “What did you just say?”

“Ashley Tisdale. Drugs. Do you also have a hearing problem?”

In anger, Thoon reached into her designer bag, taking out a floral nail filer about twice the size of Hazel and throwing it at the son of Jupiter. Jason was barley able to move to the side to avoid getting squashed by the sharp object, but they kept coming, and Jason was starting to have a hard time dodging them.

Frank tried to charge her again, but Thoon saw it coming. She threw one filer at him, hitting him in the leg. He fell to the ground, whimpering.

“Go help Frank,” Percy told her. “I’ll go help Jason.”

Hazel nodded. “Be careful.”

“No promises,” Percy grumbled, before running behind the giant, trying to get to Jason without being seen.

Hazel ran to Frank, who was back in human form. He was lying on the ground, clutching his leg in pain. She bent down next to him, trying to pry hands off the injury.

“Come on Frank, I need to you to move your hands.”

Frank shook his head weakly. “Hurts…”

“I know it does,” Hazel soothed. “I need to pour nectar on it.”

Hazel tried to block out the sounds of Thoon’s taunts, the fire and yells of pain, but it seemed to be so much louder than before.

With a heart breaking whimper, Frank let go of the injury, and Hazel quickly put her hands back on it to stop the bleeding. A huge gash ran down his knee, exploding with blood. Grabbing a canteen of nectar from her backpack, Hazel gently poured it on the wound, watching as Frank relaxed.

“Sit this one out, alright?” she told him.

Frank shook his head. “I can still fight. I’ll be fine, my leg feels better.”

Slowly helping Frank to his feet, she watched as he painfully limped around, trying to regain himself.

“You’re too weak to shape shift,” Hazel told him, as she noticed what he was trying to do.

“Don’t underestimate me,” he mumbled.

In a blink of an eye, Frank disappeared. Looking around, confused, Hazel let out a squeal when she saw a small mouse, catching the attention of Percy, Jason, and Thoon.

“Oh, I nearly forgot about you,” Thoon sneered to Hazel.

Percy sent her a confused look. “Where’s Frank?” He mouthed.

Hazel pointed to the grass, at which Percy gave her a strange look, probably debating whether or not to call her a mental hospital.

Jason ran towards the giant, using the air to push him up, throwing his sword at her stomach. Thoon roared in pain, clawing at the sword, but to no avail. Percy followed his example, charging and propelling himself into the air with a powerful jump, landing a stab into Thoon’s thigh.

By now, Thoon looked blinded with pain. She threw her purse, still yelling in pain.

Unfortunately, the purse landed right behind Percy and Jason, who were both now on the ground. The dry field reacted right away, creating a border of fire. Thoon laughed in victory, watching as the fire spread more and more rapidly.

Within seconds, water was mixing with fire, and chaos had erupted. Where was _Frank?_

A thought occurred to Hazel. They needed a God to defeat Thoon, didn’t they?

_Hey… Aphrodite. Venus. Whatever. You hear me?_

_Yes, dear?_

Hazel almost fainted when she heard the preppy voice reply to her.

_Uh, so listen. We’re sort of fighting Thoon, you know, the bane of you. Aphrodite. Venus- Whatever._

_Oh, I understand dear. Just give me a second!_

Hazel was truly surprised. Was it _that_ easy?

Apparently not.

Aphrodite appeared, that’s for sure, but no with the sort of help she expected.

Instead, she came, looking the same as always, except with a tanning chair and sunglasses.

“The perfect day to tan!” She smiled at Hazel, sending her a wink. The Goddesses set out her tanning chair, put on her sunglasses, and lay down, her dress turning into a bright pink full body swimsuit.

Percy appeared next to Hazel, along with Jason. The fire had cleared, and Frank, who was back in human form, was taking care of Thoon.

“What is _she_ doing here?” Percy asked, looking pale.

“Tanning,” Hazel replied bluntly.

“ _Excuse me?_ ” Jason asked.

“Oh yeah, let’s forget the fact it’s the middle of night,” Percy grumbled. “There’s no point of getting her to help us, she’s _Aphrodite._ The only things she’ll help us with are makeovers.”

“I’m going to go help Frank,” Jason told the two. “You guys think of something!”

With that, he ran off. Percy and Hazel walked up to Aphrodite, just as she began to apply sunscreen.

“Uh, Aphrodite?” Hazel asked, hesitant.

“Yes, dears?”

“Do you mind, oh I don’t know, helping us?”

Aphrodite gave her a strange look. “I _just_ got my nails done, though!”

“And you aren’t going to have anyone to defeat Gaea if this giant kills us, which means no one to do you nails after Gaea kills everyone,” Percy pointed out.

“So?”

“So, help us.”

Hazel elbowed Percy in the ribs. “Be nice!” She hissed.

“I would love to help, but maybe some other time. Wednesday, maybe?” Aphrodite offered, leaning back into the seat.

Hazel took a deep breath. Percy wasn't going to like what she was about to do, but desperate times. “Lady Aphrodite, Percy almost gave up on Annabeth because of this war. He almost stopped fighting for her because of these monsters.”

Aphrodite shot up immediately. “ _What!?”_

“What are you doing?” Percy whispered to her.

“Just wait,” Hazel pleaded. Percy did so, relaxing.

“You see, Lady Aphrodite, if you don’t stop this, who knows what will happen? What if Percy gives up again? What if Jason does? Then Annabeth will lose Percy, and Piper will lose Jason. You can’t let that happen, can you?”

Aphrodite shook her head. She glared at Percy. “You will _not,_ understand me?”

“Understood?” Percy tried, probably confused as Hades.

Aphrodite stood up, her dress reappearing. She stalked up towards Thoon, at which the giant froze from the sight.

“A-Aphr- Ve…”

In a flash of flowers and daisies, Thoon was gone, only her Louis Vuitton bag, now burnt.

Aphrodite giggled. “That was easy. You guys should really up your game.” With one last laugh, she vanished in a flash of light.

“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me,” Percy grumbled.

Jason and Frank were also surprised. They stood there, eyes wide, jaws dropped.

“What just happened?” Jason asked.

“Aphrodite just saved us,” Hazel told them, in a matter-of-fact tone. “Now come on, there are plenty of more giants to kill.” 

**33 - piper**

Piper ran alongside Leo, their platoons merging into one destructive force that swept a path through the oncoming army. Annabeth’s head was still ahead of them, but she was a solo force and it was taking her longer to get through the monsters, so they were slowly gaining on her.

“ _Annabeth_!” She howled, but the figure didn’t notice and continued to sprint ahead. Leo echoed her cries, but she took no notice.

“What’s her problem?” Leo puffed. “Could she like not run so freaking fast?”

“Annabeth SLOW DOWN!” Piper yelled, trying to put some charmspeak into her voice. Annabeth’s form slowed slightly, and then stopped; holding her ground with twin swords that cut through the oncoming monsters like a-

Wait _. Swords?_

Their pack neared her, joining the fray and wreaking havoc on the incoming tide of monsters. The girl was pulled inside their ranks, and ended up back-to-back with Piper and Leo, breathing labored but still fighting.

“A.J.!” Piper cried in shock, realizing who the girl actually was. “I thought you were…What-how did you-weren’t you tied to a chair?”

“Well, yeah.” A.J. said with a shrug. “The tent got blown up. I figured that was the god’s way of saying ‘Go fight the nasties’ so I set out and killed some ugly stuff. Then the Argo II got wrecked and-“

“SHE GOT WHAT?!” Leo roared, grabbing A.J. by the shoulders and shaking her roughly, while peering at the smoke-clogged sky in an attempt to see his precious baby.

“Did you NOT hear the massive explosion like ten minutes ago?!” A.J. lifted an eyebrow and pulled herself out of Leo’s grip. “I mean, Emma’s deaf and she probably would have known that something blew up. It was like HUGE. Smoke and flames and it started to like almost fall out of the sky but then it didn’t. I hope to gods that Orion wasn’t a total idiot like usual and trying to hold it up with his stupid air bending , because that’d probably kill him and that would be moderately bad.”

“Moderately?” Piper asked in shock.

“Okay, so maybe a lot bad.” A.J. shrugged. “I mean, we’re all going to die eventually, so I guess we’re all mentally prepping for one of us to finally run out of luck and get trampled to death by a moose. I mean die heroically in battle. Yeah, _definitely_ heroic deaths for us.” She rolled her eyes, flipping a lock of hair out of her eyes. “Anyways, the ship’s okay now, I think. Sam probably patched it up good and now they’re back on course. They’ll arrive at the Giants soon, so we should hurry.”

Leo stood frozen, totally shell-shocked, his brain going haywire at the thought of his precious ship being destroyed, so Piper took the lead.

“Okay, we should hurry up then. I’m pretty sure we’re almost there, anyways so-“

“Hey.” A.J. glanced around at the surrounding platoons. “Where’s Mom-I mean Annabeth? I thought she would have caught up with you already.”

“Uh…no.” Piper said. “We thought that you were her, which is why we were chasing you down.”

“Oh.” A.J. looked a little surprised at the thought. “I guess we do look alike from a distance, now that we’re almost the same age…Do you want to head on without her, or give her a couple extra minutes to catch up with us?”

Piper took a deep breath, concentrating. Whatever she chose now could possibly change the outcome of the war. “Um…let’s give her a couple minutes, but if she’s not here in five then we’ll have to just keep going.” Leo nodded in agreement, and A.J. smiled half-heartedly.

“Cool. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go help kill stuff, but you’re welcome to join me!” She strode off into the ranks of the platoon, wading through a sea of corpses, slain monsters and the occasional unlucky demigod, to hack away at the new waves of enemies, her blades a windmill of death.

“Where did she get those?” Leo asked as he summoned a hammer from his magic tool belt, setting it afire. “Her swords. They’re cool and all, but how did she hide them?”

Piper shrugged. “How should I know? Maybe they’re enchanted or something.”

“I should have been able to pick them up on my scanner though! You can’t hide that much metal, even with some kind of enchantment!”

“Leo, I said, _I don’t know_. So stop asking me and go fight.” Piper snapped, and then marched off, whipping out Katoptris and slamming it into the nearest Earthborn, splattering them both with clay. Leo ducked a blow from a large tree branch and slammed his hammer into the monster, baking it into a massive clay sculpture. It crumbled to shards, and a gust of wind picked up the dust, enveloping them all in a large cloud. Piper gagged and choked on it, staggering slightly, but Leo caught her arm and steadied her.

Nodding her thanks, she pivoted and began whaling away with her dagger on the nearest monster, helping one of the Demeter girls who was in a tight spot between six large furry beasts. Two of them turned to her as she successfully slashed their buddy to a pile of dust, growling menacingly. Their hot, smelly breath helped to blow the dust cloud out of Piper’s vision; though she wasn’t quite sure she preferred the smell of hot animal blood over dust choked lungs. One of them grabbed her arm with its big meaty paws, dragging her in as she flailed about, knife useless, until the arm suddenly dropped to the ground, severed but still twitching. The beast howled in anger, turning clumsily to see what had chopped off its arm, but before he could move very far the other arm was gone, leaving him bleeding from both armpit sockets. Piper crinkled up her nose at the gory sight, averting her eyes as she attacked the other beast, who was scratching his head in confusion at his newly amputee friend. Behind her, several sickening squelches let her know that her savior was finishing off the creature. Piper jammed her blade into the monster’s ribcage (at least, she figured that it was probably its ribcage) and turned to see the other beast disintegrating into fine sand. A.J. stood in the middle of the carnage, looking pale.

“Did _not_ expect him to actually bleed blood.” She tripped a little as she moved towards Piper. “I just thought…maybe he’d be dead without an arm? Guess not though. _Ugh_.” Her eyes rolled of their own accord, and Piper gently steadied her, a little worried. Was she sick? Breathed in too much smoke in the explosions? A.J. took a deep breath, and stood up a little straighter, eyes focusing. “I’m fine, don’t worry. Just a little bit tired. Sam and I were up pretty late trying to get the stupid vortex manipulator to work properly. Almost sent Jake to the fifteenth century. I’m fine, really.” Piper wasn’t sure that she was telling the truth, but she decided to leave it.

“PIPER!” Leo shouted over to them, instantly throwing them on guard. “BEHIND YOU!”

They turned, but were too slow. An enormous paw whipped out and knocked them both to the side, pinning them down. A large, slimy, tooth-filled mouth was lowered over Piper’s head, and she tried not to whimper. It emitted a low growl, and then it—and then it was _gone_ , melting into glittery gold that showered down on her and A.J.. Piper was pulled to her feet by a pissed off looking girl built like a tank. Clarisse patted her on the back and nearly knocked the air out of her lungs.

“McLean!” she barked. “Not missing any limbs? Good.”

Annabeth walked over, giving her a stern look. “Piper, what do you think you’re doing? I thought we were going to stick together, not run off separately! How could you be so irresponsible!?”

Piper was at a loss for words—Annabeth never snapped at anybody like this, and she had known her during Percy’s eight month absence, where her temper was unpleasant, at best. “We…that is, Leo and I, thought we saw you up ahead, so we went after you…I’m really sorry, Annabeth, this is my fault.” She tried to put a little charmspeak into the words, but it came out as pitiful and sad.

Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “And _who_ exactly, did it turn out to be that you were chasing?”

“Me…” A.J. said softly, sitting up looking slightly dazed. “They were chasing me.”

“ _You_.” Annabeth towered over her daughter, gray eyes alight with fury. “I thought we left you back at camp.”

“Er…well, I was there…” A.J. blushed furiously, standing hastily and dusting off her jeans. “But then the tent blew up, so I had to leave or get barbecued, so here I am!” She glanced up at her angry mother, who practically had steam coming out of her ears, and then back down at the ground. “I…I probably should have just stayed there, shouldn’t I have…I’m-I’m sorry…”

“Annabeth.” Piper said soothingly, letting her charmspeak flow. “What’s done is done. She’s here now, let it go, and let her fight.”

Annabeth’s eyebrows softened fractionally. “Fine. She can stay, but-“She poked a finger in A.J.’s face. “I’m not forgetting this.” A.J. nodded furiously, not raising her gaze from the ground. “You will stay here with Clarisse and try not to mess anything else up. C’mon guys.” She grabbed Leo and Piper by the shoulders and half-dragged them away, leaving A.J. to fade into the shadows behind them.

**34 - clarisse**

Clarisse was going to kill Annabeth.

Originally, she had figured that Annabeth could use a little Greek backup with her new Roman troops. So out of the goodness of her heart (yes, her heart, not her utter mistrust of Camp Jupiter’s fighters), she had snuck away from her cabin, leaving her younger brother in charge, and located Annabeth.

But the Athena girl wasn’t even remotely grateful, instead ranting on about some girl invading her personal space and pretending to be her and the kelp head’s daughter. Clarisse didn’t even listen to half of her ramblings, to be honest, but if this girl really was a fake then she was a damn good one!

Some pesky Romans came over and tried to boss them around, so Clarisse did what she did best: started a fight. That idiot boy knocked her into some dumb horse, and a different Roman managed to set off the cannon that ended up hitting Valdez’s precious ship. Boo-hoo.

Everybody started yelling at everybody, so the two of them decided to take off before a bunch of Romans came after them. The two of them made a pretty good team—Clarisse slammed the big stuff with Maimer, and Annabeth finished them off with her dorky little knife. No giant piles of metal came crashing out of the sky, so Clarisse figured that the Argo II was probably just fine with its new crew.

A crew that did _not_ include the forlorn-looking girl standing next to her. A.J. was staring miserably at the receding backs of the three prophecy members, not even noticing Clarisse sizing her up.

She was short. Not midget short, but still…for someone whose supposed parents were both on the tall end of the scale, she was pretty tiny, probably only five four or five five. Clarisse was no geneticist, but she was at least 80% sure that their daughter should be tall too. _Strike One._

“So what’s your name?” She blurted out, hoping that if she played stupid the girl would slip up.

A.J. flinched, drawn out of her reverie. “Uh, what? Oh! Er…A.J.”

Clarisse raised an eyebrow. “Is that your _real_ name?”

She blinked in confusion. “Yesss….no? It’s my initials.”

“Are you going to tell me what they stand for?”

“No.” she snorted, rolling her eyes and laughing half-heartedly. “My full name’s pretty embarrassing. Only one person ever really uses it, though…”

Unwillingness to tell her real name? _Strike Two._

“I know that you’re Clarisse Rod-I mean…um…gods, I know this!” She glared at the sky. “Only heard the name fifty thousand times in modern Greek history class…It’s la…la something? La Rouge?” She glanced at Clarisse for confirmation.

Clarisse wasn’t sure if she should be honored or more suspicious than ever. “It’s, uh, La Rue.”

A.J.’s face lit up. “Right! I totally knew that. Kinda.” She turned and smashed an incoming monster in the face with the butt of one of her swords, and spun, slicing his throat wide open with the other with a practiced flick of her blade. Clarisse pretended to not notice it (or be impressed) and continued walking back to the fight.

“So…how long have you been here?” Clarisse asked, electrocuting a Telekhine with her spear before running him through.

“Um…six hours, I think?” A.J. slammed a charging dracaena in the face. “It’s hard to tell. We left our time at like ten in the morning but I’m pretty sure we arrived at like three o’clock and it’s probably nine or ten right now…So yeah, six or seven.”

“What have you been up to? Surely you didn’t just lie around doing nothing before the battle.”

“Uh.” She said. “Well…we talked with the past versions of the Seven. It’s pretty creepy talking to your parents when they’re barely a year older than you. And, um, so, it’s our revised battle plans that we’re using right now, and we had to work those out and make sure that the new orders got delivered and people got split up according to plan and boring stuff like that. That took a pretty long time. And then Sammy and Uncle Leo had to go do final checks on the Argo II so I had some free time to catch my breath.”

“Sammy?” Clarisse asked.

“Sammy.” She confirmed. “Samuel Valdez, Leo’s oldest son. Also known as Sam, Sammeh, Sam Man, Flameo Hotman, Samoose-”

“Samoose?”

“He almost got eaten by one on a quest in Canada. Emma talked to it, and swears that it was trying to kiss him.”

“Which one is Emma? And how could she possibly know what the moose was thinking?”

“Frank and Hazel’s younger daughter. She can turn into animals.”

“Oh.” Clarisse said, processing the information. “So what can you do?”

“Hydrokenisis.”

“What?”

“Waterbending.”

“That’s it?”

“I guess I’m kinda smart.” A.J. shrugged. “My siblings are way cleverer, though, but I’m really the only one with water powers.”

“So you take after your dad.”

A.J. scowled at Clarisse. “Don’t say that. I _hate_ it when people compare us. It’s stupid and it means I have to work six times as hard to earn their respect for the things that _I_ do, not the things my family has.”

Clarisse could sympathize. Then a thought hit her, and she felt completely dumb. “You’re from the future.”

“Yes.” A.J. rolled her eyes, a smile replacing the annoyed look. “I’m pretty sure this had already been established.”

“So tell me what happens.” Clarisse demanded, knowing she was trapping her in a corner. “What does Gaea have up her sleeve to throw at us!?”

A.J. blinked in surprise. “Uh…I don’t think she has sleeves.”

Clarisse gave her a look. Though she had to admit, that was a spot-on Percy impersonation. “Metaphorical sleeves.”

“Oh.” A.J. looked away in embarrassment. “Oops. Sorry. Uh, well, I’m not quite sure. The stories of the battle that I’ve been told are different than what’s happening now, because after we leave, we’re going to wipe everyone’s memory of us being here. It’d mess up the timeline too much if we changed too-hey!”

_Strike Three. You’re out._

Clarisse had knocked her to the ground, pinning down her biceps to keep her immobilized. "I know you're lying to me." She clamped one steel-toed boot onto the spy's throat, pushing slightly. Not hard enough to kill her, but enough pressure to make her writhe about, gasping. "Annabeth warned me about you and your little friends."

"Wh-what?" She choked out, hands trying to force Clarisse's foot off of her neck. "Wha-what're you talkin a-a-about?"

"That's right, girlie." Clarisse leaned down, so their faces were close. The girl beneath her was turning redder and redder, clawing at Clarisse's boot as her air was being slowly cut off. "I know you're working with Gaea. You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?" A.J. shook her head as best she could, breaths coming in tiny pants. Clarisse leaned back a little, switching the pressure from her throat to her stomach, the muscles bucking and shuddering under her. A.J. took several deep, shuddering gasps, blinking quickly and gagging in the back of her throat.

"I don't know what this is about Clarisse, but please, _stop_. I'm not working for Gaea! And like I said, my name is A.J. Jackson!"

Clarisse rolled her eyes, and pushed down on her neck once more. "Sure it is. Are you ready to tell the truth now? If you do, I’ll make your death a little less painful."

"I-I-I am!" A.J. spat between labored breaths.

"Prove it." Clarisse applied a bit more pressure and the girl let out a high yelp of pain.

"I-swur-river-Styx..." Clarisse removed her foot, but kept her pinned down. AJ jolted as far upright as she could with Clarisse's knee in her stomach, gasping like a fish out of water for air, her purple-blue face deflating into a nasty red. Once she had enough air, she glared up at her captor. "I swear on the River Styx," she spat in annoyance, "that I'm not lying. I'm from the future, and my parents are Percy and Annabeth Jackson."

Clarisse studied her prone figure for a second more. When she didn’t burst into flames from lying under oath, she removed her knee from AJ's midriff and stood. AJ continued sitting with her head between her knees sucking in deep breaths, her face fading from deep red to splashes of pink. When it appeared she has sufficiently recovered, Clarisse offered a gruff hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Sorry." She growled sheepishly. "But I had to be sure. Annabeth made a convincing case against you."

AJ rubbed her neck, looking vexed. "Oh I bet she did. And now I'm probably going to have permanent esophageal damage, so that's great. Add that to the list of things I've had injured." She bent and scooped up her weapons, tucking them into her belt loops carefully, scowling at Clarisse. "There are better ways of extracting information than torture, you know. You could have, like, asked me."

"Look, I said I was sorry." Clarisse snapped. "Now can you fight or do I need to protect you and your delicate little neck?"

"Oh, I can fight." She snapped back. "But before we head back, I need your phone."

"I don’t have one." Clarisse lied reflexively.

"Don't give me that bullshit. I saw it sticking out of your inner jacket pocket when you had me pinned down. Black case, left side." She held out a hand expectantly. Clarisse reluctantly handed it over.

"One call." She said.

"That's all I need. It might not even work. I don't know if a past phone can call a future phone. Passcode?"

"Three-eight-nine-three."

AJ unlocked it and flicked between screens quickly. Eyes closed in concentration, she flicked her fingers across the keypad and dialed, propping the phone up with her shoulder and crossing her fingers. "I swear to gods, Oreo, if you have it on vibrate and don't feel it I will murder you..."

**35 - orion**

Orion’s back pocket began to sing right as they reached the Giants, a loud, peppy song with dumb lyrics about going out and getting drunk. It wasn’t a ringtone he recognized, and all of his contacts had unique ones—A.J. had ‘Under the Sea’ from The Little Mermaid, Jake had ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ (a total oldie, but Jake was all about vintage, the hipster).

That left him with only a few options—One, it was an ex-girlfriend he had deleted from his contacts. (Please no, **please no** , _please no_.) Two, it was a telemarketer. (Also yuck, but not as bad.) Or three, some poor idiot was calling the wrong number. He sighed and picked up.

“Hello?” He said, already exasperated with the person on the other side of the line.

“Eight rings, Orion? And here I was thinking you loved me…” A.J.’s voice pouted. Orion froze in shock at the sound of her voice and the others turned to stare at him. 

“Cut the engines, Sam. Somehow…it’s A.J.” He said to them. “Hold up, I’m putting you on speaker.”

“Hey bitches," she said, voice crackling through the speaker.

“We get cell reception in the past!?” Sammy whipped out his own phone. “Whoa, five bars? I never get five bars!”

“That’s because your phone is held together with duct tape, Sammy darling.” A.J. said, and Orion could have sworn he heard the eye roll through the speakers. “How are you? I saw the ship go boom earlier.”

“Could _someone_ tell me what she’s saying?” Emma asked in exasperation. Jake immediately obliged with a series of signs, Emma nodding along in comprehension. “Gotcha. Well, not the part about the sandwich. But we’re cool. Sam had to patch up a medium sized chunk, but like nothing too major.”

“Whew. That’s like bad, but like less bad than I was expecting. I totally thought that there were gonna be missing limbs and Orion would be unconscious and-“

“Now is kinda a bad time you know.” Orion cut into A.J.’s ramblings, trying to be serious. “We’re at the giants, like _, now_.”

“Oh. Okay. Just to let you know, this is Clarisse’s phone. She says hi. Well not really, I’m just pretending like she did. Also, I’m clearly not still tied to a chair, in case anyone was wondering. That tent blew up a long time ago. We might have a tiny problem.”

“How tiny is tiny?” Sammy asked nervously.

“Uh…Mom's completely convinced that we’re all spies working for Gaea tiny.”

“Oh.” Sammy blinked. “Well. I mean, we always knew she was a little, y’know…” He trailed off, and twirled a finger at his temple.

“She’s not crazy, Sam.” A.J. said defensively. “She’s just…mom.”

“I can see where she’s coming from, though.” Emma threw in. “How weirded out would you be if your kids from the future showed up and were like ‘Let’s fight this war together!’ I would totally freak it out too.”

“Okay, so maybe a little not crazy. But really…I thought Riptide would be enough. I mean, come on, where else could I possibly get the stupid thing? Guess not. Good think I got me lucky charms, huh?” She jingled her charm bracelet next to the phone, and Orion couldn’t help but smile. “So can you see anything with the other giants or down on the ground? I’m pretty much fighting blind.”

“We saw two of them go down to the north, and there’s one closer to us that’s starting to topple. The ground’s darked out to us, though, so you’re on your own for that.” Jake said smoothly.

“Gotcha. I’ll let you guys get back to it now, then. See you later, try not to die.” A.J. hung up and the dial tone bleeped. Orion hung up and Sam hit the controls and they cruised forward towards the giants.

#

“WELL!” The first one boomed. It was the larger and the uglier of the two, with long stringy red hair, a smushed up face, and deep-set beady red eyes. Judging by the dented up armor and smell, this was probably Aigaion, bane of Ares. Or Mars. Whatever floated your boat. “SO THE SEVEN HAVE COME TO FACE US!”

“Uh…nope!” Sam said through the megaphone, his voice echoing. Orion prayed that the entire battlefield couldn’t hear him from up here. “Just a couple of random losers.” The Giants roared with what Orion could only assume was pleasure.

“THE SEVEN DO NOT DARE FACE US, THE PUNY COWARDS!” The second shouted. Most likely it was Hippolytos, Hermes’ or Mercury’s or whatever’s bane. On the ugly scale, he was still like a five billion, but maybe a little less gross than his friend, with salt-and-pepper hair like the real Hermes and only half a nose, with huge fangs. The two of them cackled loudly.

“Sam!” Emma hissed, elbowing him. “ _We’re not losers! “_

“Some of us are…” Sammy mumbled out of range of the microphone. The others rolled their eyes, and Orion grabbed the microphone.

“Or maybe,” Orion said in the mic, channeling his inner A.J. (The three Bs. Be sassy, be a (little) shit, be super annoying.) “You’re lame as hell, and they didn’t feel like wasting their time on your scrawny butts?”

The two of them froze from their gloating and Orion saw them slowly comprehend what he had just said with their puny brains, and then watched with pleasure as the flames of anger appeared in their eyes. He sort of understood how A.J. felt about being so snarky now—there _was_ an odd sense of pleasure that came with out-sassing them.

“Oh snap,” Sam said, grinning. “You just told-AHHHHH!”

A large finger flew out and smacked him, knocking him and Emma to the deck in a tangle of limbs. Orion was sure he caught Jake smiling fondly at them as they blushingly tried to get away from each other as fast as possible, but when he looked closer it was gone.

“Whoa.” Orion said into the mic, slow clapping for emphasis. “Impressive. _Really_. No wonder the Seven didn’t feel like facing you if that’s the best you got.” He pushed a few controls on the dash and immediately a volley of flame-tipped arrows soared at the two Giants. Aigaion shoved Hippolytos in the way and he howled in pain, flames peppering his greasy face. “Wow, Aigaion, that was like _super brave_ , making Hippolytos take the hit for you. Scared of a couple little arrows? _Pathetic._ ”

Hippolytos roared again, but not at the four on the ship. He turned on Aigaion and hit him in the gut with one colossal fist. “YOU!” He howled. “COWARD! AFRAID OF THE DEMIGODS’ PATHETIC WEAPONRY! SHAME UPON YOUR NAME AIGAION!” 

Aigaion screeched in anger and pain, standing up tall so he towered over his slightly shorter companion. “ME, THE COWARD? WHAT ABOUT YOU, PUNY LITTLE HIPPOLYTOS? AFRAID OF HIS OWN SHADOW!” He kicked out into Hippolytos’ knee and the giant buckled a little, but remained upright enough to punch Aigaion again.

Orion turned the microphone off and turned away from the fight, where Hippolytos was currently pulling Aigaion’s hair, while Aigaion screeched like a bat. “Well, that should keep them busy for a while. I’m going to go reload the crossbows and cannons. Yell for me if they remember we’re here, okay?” They nodded and he headed down the stairs to the lower levels.

Reloading the crossbows was a boring job, but it had a methodical, even rhythm to it that somehow relaxed him. Dip arrow in lighter fluid, open latch, insert arrow, close latch, lift crate, take two steps, repeat. It was slow going, but it gave him time to think about A.J.’s call.

They hadn’t expected anyone to believe them, least of all Aunt Annabeth. The fact that Aunt Rey didn’t try to execute them on the spot was a bit of a shock, really. They had always been regaled with tales of how she ruled New Rome with an iron fist and a bowl of jelly beans while Dad and Uncle P got swapped around and Octavian was a (teenaged) butt face. He just hoped that Annabeth wouldn’t do anything stupid, like openly accuse them. He wasn’t quite sure that A.J. would be able to handle that—they all knew that she was banking on some kind of miracle to happen where for once the two of them could get along. She didn’t even want Annabeth to like her—just acceptance. When they had received the news of this quest, her eyes had lit up, and he knew exactly what was running through her mind. Somehow, the Fates were giving her a chance to make up with her mother in the past, where it was possible, rather than try it in the future, where she had no chance. It was a second chance, a redo button, and she knew it. They all knew it.

He was so lost in his reminiscing that he didn’t even notice the figure that materialized behind him in the shadows. The intruder was spinning a large staff from hand to hand, and slowly approached him from behind…

“Owen.” A voice said gruffly. Orion spun around, startled, whipping out his sword and holding it to the person’s throat, before dropping the tip in shock.

“Uh…hey. How…how did you get here?” 

**36 - orion**

The intruder studied him impassively with cool purple eyes that pulsed with internal fires. He knocked Orion’s blade down to his side with a flick of his staff. “Fancy seeing you here, Graves.”

“Grace.” Orion corrected him instinctively, sheathing his blade.

The man rolled his eyes. “So you made it here. Congratulations. Your names would go into the history books, if they weren’t already staining those poor pages.”

“Of course. So what brings you here, Bacchus?” He asked as politely as possible.

“Are you aware that your friend Sammy is-“

“Yes.” He said, cutting off the rest of Bacchus’ sentence. “We know, we’re handling it. A.J. and I want to see what he’s planning to pull.”

“And if he out does your expectations?”

“Bacchus, I think we know what we’re doing. We can take him out when the time is right. Squeeze him for information on the Order. See if he can tell us anything about the Knight, anyway we can take him without using the Medallion to blow him to smithereens.”

“Hmm.” Bacchus narrowed his eyes at Orion. “And you’ll make a full report this time on your findings, correct? No skimping on the details? I know for a fact that there is no way Elric ‘Backed up too far and fell off the cliff.’ Or that ‘We attempted to save him, in the name of putting him to justice, but alas, he was lost and splattered on the rocks below. I made Orion go get the enclosed photo of the unfortunate remains.’ ”

“With all due respect sir, most of the reports get written by A.J..” Orion smiled faintly. “She tells you what she thinks is important. He didn’t fall, Sam set off the explosions he rigged and the bluff he was on collapsed under him. I’ll be sure to proofread it this time, make sure everything is in there.”

Bacchus studied him. “Did Valdez really?”

“Yes sir. Whole mountain went up in flames, we barely got out in time.”

“Hmph. Well you had better keep an eye on her this time.”

“Yes Mr. B.”

“So. How is this…endeavor going?”

“Um…good, I think. It’s hard to tell—this is entirely uncharted territory. Who knows what could happen?”

“In other words, you’ve been separated, you have no plans or really any idea what’s happening and could use some godly advice.” Bacchus snapped open his Diet Pepsi, slurping it down. “You’re lucky I’m here.”

“Um…yes sir. But we do have a plan-”

“Bullshit.” Bacchus burped loudly. “Your carefully laid plans are useless here, boy. This is a war. You’ve stepped in and altered the timeline-yes, I know, shocking, isn’t it, that I can throw your silly space lingo around-and there is no way to predict the outcome anymore.”

“But sir, the outcome is that we win-“

“Not anymore.” Bacchus’ purple eyes leveled with Orion’s, deep and tired. “There are no guarantees. You can still ruin this.”

Orion felt the blood rush from his head and puddle in his legs. “You…you said you would give me advice?”

“Oh yeah.” Bacchus tossed aside his empty Pepsi can and cracked open a new one. “Porphyrion isn’t going to show up until much later. Cowardly little scumweiner, hiding behind his mother’s skirts. I’d tell you more about what they’ve got planned to go down, but fate’s a bitch and I can’t. Just know that he’ll be the final thing to face. Second magical piece of knowledge to impart to you in my endless wisdom: you’re gonna need to get the god’s shit together. I don’t know how and frankly I don’t really care, you just gotta get it done. Past me will likely not be as helpful as this version of me. I didn’t like children back then.”

“You don’t like children now.”

Bacchus shrugged. “I’ve just gotten better at managing my hatred because in four years I will be outta this joint for good and it’ll be DJ’s problem.”

“Until you go-“

“No.” Bacchus bounced his second empty can off of Orion’s forehead, and he rubbed the spot, eyes narrowing. “No. Never again. I will not endure another hundred years of living Tartarus with you brats, no matter how pretty she is.”

“You only had to serve half of your sentence.”

“Not the point! Now, where were we? Oh, right, dealing with our godly shit. Zeus will have the most troubles, along with Athena. Good luck with them. You’ll need it and them to win this thing. All fourteen major gods need to be ready if you want to strike down Gaea and Porphyrion for good, got it?”

Orion nodded.

“Third piece of advice I have for you: sometimes the best tactical plot is the one that causes the least amount of deaths. “

“Okay. I can do that. Nobody dies.”

“Great. Then I bid you adieu Owen. Good luck with this shit.” He clicked his fingers and vanished in a shower of purple sparks, leaving Orion alone with his thoughts.

#

After he finished reloading the artillery Orion returned to the top deck, where the others were lounging around as the two Giants brawled in front of them. Sam was reclined on the control panel, chatting with Emma and Jake stood by the railing, staring moodily at the blackness below them. Emma noticed him first, probably sensing the vibrations of his footsteps on the metal-encased planks. She gave him a wide smile.

“There you are! What took you so long?”

“Bacchus stopped by.” He said. “Gave me some advice.”

“Dude, if it’s on how to get the girl, do NOT listen to it. Trust me, that soggy old geezer wouldn’t know a thing about the ladies.” Jake wiggled his eyebrows at Emma, and she elbowed him in the guy, giggling.

“About the war.” Orion said patiently, cracking a slight smile. “We were right about Porphyrion—he’ll be a no-show until the end. The gods getting their shit together is apparently more important than we thought, and the best kind of tactical plot is the kind where the fewest troops die.”

“The best kind of what now does what?” Emma asked. “It’s getting dark and the shadows are making this kinda hard to do man.”

“Tac-tic-al plot isss wherrrre peee-ple donnn’t dieeee” Orion dragged out the syllables and she glared at him.

“You don’t need to baby me Oreo, I just needed to reread your ugly lips.” He stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Anything else?” Jake asked.

“Nope. He poofed out and I finished reloading.” Orion looked over the railing, trying to see the Giants. “Are they still fighting?”

“Yeah, Angry tackled Hippo and they’re rolling around on the ground beating the shit out of each other. It’s great.” Sam flicked a hand and a spark of fire illuminated far below them, lighting up the ground momentarily to show them the two giants sprawling out on each other, weakly swinging at each other. “Hippo took out this huge chunk of Angry’s head earlier, it was so totally sick! Blood and gore everywhere! It healed up though...” He pouted and for a second Orion was genuinely scared for his mental safety.

“It was disgusting.” Emma said.

“You’re such a-“

“If you say girl I will turn into a lion and eat your head and then dump the rest of your corpse into Tartarus, so help me gods Sam.” Emma snapped.

 _Touchy_. Sam mouthed to Orion, who did nothing, not wishing in incite the wrath of Emma and get decapitated and thrown into the pits of hell. Emma stomped on his foot hard and he squealed in pain, hopping on one foot and cursing while Emma snickered. Jake and Orion ignored them, returning to the railing.

“When you say Bacchus poofed, does that mean he traveled back home, or is he still hanging around? It would be nice to get rid of them while we have the chance…”

“I think he’s gone gone.” Orion shrugged. “Who knows though? Maybe he’ll pop in later.”

Jake nodded and turned his attention back to the fight below them. Orion could barely see it without Sam’s flames, but maybe Jake could see better with his dead people vision and stuff. Eventually Sam and Emma rejoined them, standing on opposite sides of him and Jake, coolly ignoring each other. They spent a few minutes in silence, and then Jake stood up sharply.

“They’re getting up. Looks like they’re done fighting each other for now.”

**ch 37 - jason**

As soon as Aphrodite left, the battle went downhill. _Hard._ You wouldn't think the Bane of the _corn_ goddess (sorry Ceres) would be all that deadly, but there Agrios was, cornering and nearly killing them all. Hazel nearly got squashed (no pun intended) by a giant pumpkin that flew out of the ground, straight at her head. She had luckily managed to dive out of the way just in time, but it continued flying at her like some kind of insane helicopter, zooming across the landscape, chunks dropping off of it and reforming as she got in swings with her sword. Frank was busy fighting a bunch of grain spirits who kept exploding into Chex Mix and then reforming uglier and angrier than before. Percy had gotten attacked by tomato vines, and was currently dangling by his ankle, swinging Riptide uselessly as he flailed around. And Jason was duelling an angry snowman made entirely out of watermelons (a Watermelonman?)

Agrios wasn't even trying that hard, she just stood in the center of the chaos and cackled while the four of them ran around in a panic while manaical vegetables tried to murder them. Jason privately swore to himself that he would never EVER underestimate Ceres again if he made it out of there alive. 

He got a few second's respite when Watermelonman tripped over his own clunky feet and splattered his head on the rocky ground. Jason took the opportunity to sprint into the flying pumpkin's path, severing it in half with his blade, pumpkin guts exploding everywhere and covering him with a layer of orange gunk. The two halves made a feeble attempt to take to the air again before accepting defeat and dissolving into the ground. 

He wiped just enough of the goo out of his face to see Hazel charging across the battlefield towards Percy, screaming at the top of her lungs and then Watermelonman was upon him again, blade whipping up to slit his throat. Jason leapt back just in time, but he felt the cold tip swish dangerously close to his jugular. It was too close of a call for him, and he swore to himself that he'd be more on guard. 

The two of them dueled their way across the landscape. Jason was good, but Watermelonman seemed to know exactly what he was going to do before even he did, and was beating him back away from Agrios at an alarming rate. It was darker farther away, and he knew that it would be only a matter of time before he would trip over some impertinent rocks and the fight would be over. Watermelonman kept pressing him, harder and harder now that he/she/it/whatever sensed victory. Jason knew he would regret wasting his energy on it later, but he started sending off blue sparklers of electricity just to see his surroundings. 

And then he did trip, one misplaced foot and his ankle buckled under him, swirling him down to the ground in a tangled heap of limbs, sword lifted in a desperate final attempt to defend himself. 

But he didn't need it. Watermelonman was crumpled next to him with what looked like a full quiver of arrows jammed into his watermelon head and watermelon torso and watermelon neck. Frank stood three hundred feet away, still fighting the grain spirits, but the big guy had somehow managed to find the time to save his butt.

Nice of him. Jason was happy to return the favor, hopping to his feet and dashing back into the torchlit area, bellowing a war cry as he charged towards the grain guys. He took down two, and they exploded into Chex Mix that drifted back together a little too quickly for Jason's liking. 

"I don't know why they keep doing that!" Frank yelled to him. "We had no trouble making them stay dead back in California!" 

"Must be Agrios and Gaea's powers. You keep slicing them, I'll see if I can disperse the pieces enough to keep them down for a while!" Frank nodded and turned away to shoot an arrow through the heart of the one shouting "SORGHUM!" at the top of its squeaky little voice. Jason waved a hand and mini pretzels scattered everywhere. It seemed to work, though, and together he and Frank tag-team-murdered the rest of the spirits. 

It was only after the battlefield was covered in snack food that Jason remembered about Percy being strangled by vines. Oops. He turned to find Percy safely returned to the ground, Hazel running beside him towards an angrily wailing Agrios.

"Let's go." Frank called to him, starting to jog forward towards the others, already morphing into something big and furry with huge claws. 

And then the ground exploded, molten lava spewing up in a geyser where Jason's feet had been just seconds before. Jason was thrown thirty feet to his left, rolling across the rocky ground, which turned red hot and melted beneath his flailing limbs. He shoved himself to his feet and rocketed a few feet above the ground to escape from the liquid rock. 

Frank was nowhere to be seen, but Jason figured that there was a pretty good chance the buzzard floating aroud squaking loudly was him. Percy had his arm around Hazel in the distance, and they stood together on a large wave that had rocketed them up to Agrios' waist level. 

Speaking of Agrios...what the Hades was the bane doing? Percy and Hazel's assaults of water and rocks didn't seem to perterb her at all. She had her head thrown back, as if someone was pulling her hair from behind, and a horrible screech that Jason assumed was supposed to be a whimper echoed from her lips. 

Whatever was pulling her hair back suddenly released her. Agrios let out an angry bellow, and then she began to back up away from Percy and Hazel, stomping her feet in an unvoiced temper tantrum. The duo on the wave increased their attacks, but Jason felt uneasy...why would Agrios suddenly pull back like-

Oh. 

Trap. 

"PERCY! HAZEL!" He howled up the battlefield to them. "IT'S A TRICK GET AWAY." 

Percy didn't hear him and continued to advance, but Hazel glanced back to look at him, realized he was dead serious, and grabbed Percy's sleeve, breaking his concentration and slowing their advance. They had a quick whispered conversation, and then Percy began to back away from retreating Bane. 

The four of them met up in the center of the torchlit area, Frank keeping a close eye on Agrios, still a giant buzzard. 

"Gaea called her back, I'm sure of it." Jason said, waving his hands for emphasis. "We should regroup with the others, try and figure out her next moves."

Hazel nodded. "Sounds good. I want to press her, but none of the gods have given us any help with her, which makes me think they don't want us to go after her just yet. Do you want to-" 

She was cut off by the blare of conch horns and whistles, the Greeks and Romans signalling to their troops. 

"Oh." Percy said, looking over his shoulder at the blazing battlefield. "I don't speak army signals very well but I'm gonna say that the airhorn noise means something really bad." 

"Oh it does." Jason said grimly. "Reyna just ordered a mass retreat inside Olympus." 

**38 - Reyna**

Reyna was in her element. Her squadron cut through the enemy ranks like they were butter, with her taking up the rear guard with Gwen, keeping a wary eye on the splattered remains, just in case they decided to reanimate and come after her troops. The monsters weren't staying dead for very long, and they had learned that the hard way when a slaughtered Earthborn took out two of her finest soldiers from literally underneath their feet. 

The battlefield was an ugly place, full of guts and gore, but Reyna still felt a sort of revelry to the carnage. It was probably just a side effect of being the daughter of Bellona, goddess of war, that made her feel this way. The feeling was really good, too--she had never felt more alive, all of her senses tingling with anticipation of the destruction. She finally felt free, freer than she had ever been in her whole life, able to make her own decisions without worrying about the consequences.

But lying beneath that sense of freedom was the tugging grip of guilt and paranoia-this battle wasn't going very well for their side at all. She wanted desperately to ignore it, to venture on into the enemy ranks, razing them to the ground without a care. The Roman in her was having none of that rebelliousness, however, and she soon found herself calling to her squad, forming them up into a tight group, defending their wounded in a circle. 

"We're pulling back for now! Arrange yourselves in a rotating phalanx. I'm going to give the order to regroup back at the base camp." She shouted over the roar of the monsters. Her legionnaires immediately locked shields, spears poking between the gaps in the metal, and began a swirling path back. Reyna yanked the flare gun from her back pocket and cocked it to yellow, indicating a full retreat and regroup. She gave it three shots, one up above her, one to the left, and one to the right, and the fireworks exploded over the battlefield, momentarily lighting up the night sky with blasts of yellow-gold flames and choking gray smoke. Other flares started going off as well, as the centurions of the other Cohorts continued the chain of commands. 

From her other pocket she withdrew a simple black walkie-talkie that the Valdez boy had built shortly before the battle began. Four of the set were with Greek campers, and the fifth was installed up on the Argo II. She clicked the talk button. "This is Reyna. We're ordering a retreat and a regroup in the base camp. All ranking personnel report to the command pavilion for your new orders." 

"Squad One. Rodger."

"Squad Two. Got it."

"On our way. This is Squad Four."

There was radio silence, and Reyna clicked hers again. "Squads Three and Argo II, do you read me?" 

The line fuzzed, and then it softened. "This is the Argo II. We're going to take her back in, but we've got heavy damage to the starboard." 

Reyna cursed under her breath. "Understood. Squad Three, do you read?" 

Nothing. Just white noise pulsing through the speakers. She opened her channel. "If you see Squad Three, make sure you tell them to start pulling back. Godspeed to us all." She tucked the device into her back pocket and drew her sword, slipping into position in the phalanx as they continued to draw back from the advancing tide of monsters

-

The camp was not the safe haven Reyna had quietly hoped it would be. The monsters had manage to outmaneuver them, executing a perfect pincer movement that effectively surrounded them on all sides. And they were closing in steadily, crunching their remaining forces in. 

Although Reyna would rather be out there, in the thick of the fray, cutting down enemies, she knew it was her responsibility as praetor to not outwardly panic and carry on with her duties. She marched through the crowds, barging straight into the pavilion like she owned the place.

(She did.)

Her centurions and four of the Greek camper-leaders were already there, pacing nervously and throwing out ideas to Chiron, whose full centaur form was crammed into one corner. They all looked up when she looked in. 

"I want ideas and I want them now." She barked. "How they hell did they pull this off?" 

"Not sure, ma'am." One of the Greek boys snapped her a quick salute. "We think they may have had us outmaneuvered from the very beginning, with a part of their force hiding on the other side of the mountain. There's no way onto Olympus from there, so we didn't do much investigating." 

Reyna groaned, pressing her fingers into her temple. Her head hurt, pulse thrumming against her skull. What if this slight overlook in their defenses cost them the war? She couldn't afford to let that happen; there was no way in Pluto's domain that she was going to be the praetor who allowed Olympus to fall! 

"What have we got for ideas?" She asked, keeping her voice carefully controlled to mask her growing nausea and panic. 

"Well, this _ineptus,"_ Mark, a centurion from the Third pointed an accusing finger at one of the Greek campers, "Thinks that the best way out of this is to try and hold our position here, and keep the monsters at bay, despite being _completely surrounded_ by them. " 

The Greek boy bristled with anger. "What would you have us do? There's nowhere to run, even if we could get out of this godforsaken place!" 

"Yes there is!" Someone crowed from the doorway. Reyna turned to find Clarisse, the wild-haired (and somewhat crazy) daughter of Ares standing in the doorway, one arm slung around- dear gods, was that the Jackson girl? "Crazy here's got a plan and it's beautiful." 

"You." Reyna's mind focused in on her, like a raptor. "A.J., yes? Your battle plans got us into this mess, and I want an explanation of why. _Now."_

The blonde girl lifted an eyebrow at Reyna as if daring her to outright blame her, and at the moment, Reyna was about ready to run her through herself for insubordination with a side of treason. "The reason that we're in this mess is because _your soldiers_ forgot how _protocol_ works, Rey-Rey." A.J. shifted, so Clarisse's arm fell off of her shoulders, and crossed her own across her chest, eyes narrowing, irritated. Reyna bristled, hand flying to her blade. "If you had actually bothered to perform a full perimeter search before you plopped yourselves down in _the middle of a field,_ you would have found them no problemo! I made those plans assuming that you would _actually use_ the protocols that have been set up in case of something like this happening!" She huffed angrily and sat back on her heels, having lifted up on her toes in an attempt to get up in Reyna's face. 

It had worked, despite her inability to meet her at eye level. Reyna's blood was boiling, equal parts angry with herself and with this impertinent girl. She knew that it was partially her fault, the legion was exhausted after their double time march to the base of Olympus, and she _had_ only ordered the bare minimum of patrols around their encampment. But hearing it sassed up in her face from this arrogant little twig was a little too much for her pride to handle. 

"So we know how they did it." Chiron must have sensed the tension between the two of them, and stepped forward, drawing their attention to him (bless him). "Now we must decide how to proceed from here on out." 

"It's obvious, isn't it?" A.J. said, rolling her eyes. "We're going to retreat up to Olympus. Get the whole army within the gates, and work from there." 

"That would be great." Reyna snapped, blood pressure on the rise once more. "If there was actually a way to get us through _the giant army of monsters_!"

A.J. smirked at her. "Way ahead of you Rey-"

"I. Swear. To. God." Reyna growled. "I don't care _who_ your parents are, if you call me that ONE more time, I will-" 

"Right." She seemed to do a double take, blinking rapidly. "Sorry. I start losing control of the snark when I don't sleep for a few days. Normally the people who have to deal with it are already used to me being an annoying shit. " A.J. offered her a guilty half-smile. 

"Apology accepted." Reyna said, though she didn't really mean it. "Now how, exactly, do you plan on getting us up there." 

"I'm going to need a pegasus, some ambrosia, one of those thingies that you talk into and it magnifies your voice-" She paused, biting her lip, eyebrows narrowed. "Wait, wait, don't tell me what it's called, um, you know, ugh, a BULLHORN!" She grinned, and Reyna was mildly concerned at her ability to change so quickly from angry to serious to silly. "And your full cooperation, of course." She said, meeting Reyna's gaze, back to her serious self once again. "It's a little crazy, but I think it'll work out just fine." 

**39 - orion**

Orion was nearly murdered by a girl on a pegasus for the second time that month, and quite frankly, he was getting a little bit concerned for his safety. A.J.'s ride swooped dangerously close to his head and landed hard in front of him. She yanked the reigns hard to bring them both to a stop, and slid off its back (ungracefully, as she was several inches too short to actually slide off while ridding straddle). Once she had managed to regain her balance, she promptly threw herself at him, wrapping him in a tight hug before pulling the others in for bone-crushing embraces. 

The battle didn't seem to have affected her too much-a few nicks and scrapes here, and long burns along her forearms that seemed to be halfway healed already. Considering her complete and total inability to back down from a fight, Orion was relieved she wasn't much worse off (or _dead_ , a small part of his mind chided). 

"Well look who finally showed up for the party." Sam slug his arm around her shoulders, grinning. "Took you long enough." 

"I love what you've done with the place." She said, laughing as she surveyed the broken deck. "I leave you guys alone for just a little while, and you destroy a warship? I've trained you well." 

"Don't remind me." Sam said, pouting. "Dad is gonna kill us." 

"Kill _you."_ She corrected. " _I_ was nowhere near the ship, therefore _I_ take none of the blame for this hunk of junk getting trashed." 

"You're a horrible person." 

"Aww, thank you!" 

"So what's the plan?" Orion interrupted their banter. "Is there a plan? Actually, don't answer that. We _never_ have a plan, just a couple of vague ideas that seem like good ones at the time." 

"Ex- _cuse me?"_ She snapped her fingers in his face. "Of course there's a plan! We usually have a plan! And my ideas are always good, the bad guys just screw them up!" 

He smiled down at her, trying hard not to laugh at her sulky expression. "Okay. Sure. Whatever you say A.J.. So why don't you tell us about your plan?" 

She glared up at him suspiciously, but her eyes gave her away-she couldn't stay mad at him, not for long. "Okay. So. You three-", she waved a hand at the others, "Are gonna take what's left of the Argo II up over the gates and onto Olympus. The wind spirits should recognize Festus and let you through, but I wouldn't be too surprised if you were stopped for questioning. Orion, you're with me. We're gonna be the diversion while everyone else gets onto Olympus."

So they did have an actual plan. A pleasant surprise. He had expected the jumble of "um"s and "uh"s and "kill it if it's evil"s that made up her usual on the go plans. 

"Wow." Jake said, his normally cool tone slightly surprised. "That's, like, a plan. An actual plan. One that could work and not get us all killed." 

"My plans have never killed us before!" She whined. 

"There's a first time for everything." 

"I will hurt you." A.J. pointed her finger at him in an unconvincing way, and the corners of his mouth quirked up ever so slightly. 

"Plan sounds good by me." Emma said, and Sam nodded in agreement. 

"I'm in as well." Orion said. It's A.J.. No matter how crazy things get, he's got her back, 100%.

"Sweet. See you guys in a bit." A.J. gave Emma one last tight hug, fluffed Sam's hair, and shot Jake with a finger gun before slinging herself onto the pegasus, who was looking more and more skittish by the second as the deck beneath its feet creaked and swayed. 

"See you soon." He said to the three still on deck before shoving himself onto the winged horse behind A.J., wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and leaning into her hair. She ruffled their steed's mane and whispered something to it, and they took off, soaring into the air, getting a panoramic view of the torchlit battle below them. 

"Eat." She handed him a lumpy square of ambrosia. "I had some too earlier, so don't even bother trying to give me half Mr. Sharing-Is-Caring." He had to choke back a laugh at that, and popped the square into his mouth. "And don't think I can't feel you sniffing my hair back there, shampoo perv." 

"You're so fussy." He said, as he shifted his chin to rest on her shoulder, slightly abashed at being caught (he couldn't help himself, really, it was the Aphrodite genes, they made him need to sniff pretty scents). "And I am not a shampoo perv." She snorted and elbowed him in the ribs gently.

Orion could already feel the ambrosia's power rushing through him-the sleepiness was drifting away and he felt like he could probably run a couple miles if he needed to. "So do we have a plan for this diversion, or do we wing it like usual?" 

She growled playfully at him. "Did you miss all of the great plans I shared earlier? Of course we have a plan!" Then, under her breath, so low he would have missed it if they weren't pressed together on the back of a flying horse, "Sort of." 

"You have no idea what you're doing do you." 

"Shut UP!" She groaned. "Tell me if you see any good spots-oh! There!" She pointed to the area directly in front of the gates. "There's a small patch there where we can start the storm."

"Storm?" He asked, already worried about this idea. A.J. could be absolutely brilliant, that was a given. He'd watched her outmaneuver countless opponents-but she was also the girl who tried to use one of her knives as a cell phone charger, and _that_ certainly hadn't worked out all that well. (In theory, it was actually a pretty decent idea she had going, using the metal blade as an adaptor to connect her charger to the socket. In practicality, she nearly burned down the training arena.)

"Yup." she said happily. "We're gonna blast a path straight to the gates, and then do the thingy with the water arches-you know the one, right?-and move the storm around the sides to give everyone cover while they go through to Olympus." 

He considered the idea for a few seconds. "We've survived on less."

"Yes. Yes we have." She tugged on the Pegasus' mane, pulling him into a steep curving dive towards the cleared patch she had indicated. "Be ready to start doing the wind thingy once I get the water up into the air." 

"I know, I know." He said, and she tensed in his arms, one hand rising to point directly at the cleared area below them, the ground there rocking and then erupting as six geysers of water shot straight into the air, and then began to swirl up and around each other in a conical shape. 

"And...now!" She relaxed slightly, handing some of the control of the thousands of gallons of liquids over to him, and he concentrated his efforts on changing the air pressure around it, heating some areas and cooling others to create a perfectly destructive storm system. It had taken them years to figure out what they were doing, months spent poring over meteorological data and summoning tiny cyclones, but now that they knew, the two of them could have the storm up and running in minutes. "We're sending it forwards, then splitting it into two to surround our guys. I'll start the arches now." 

The storm system gusted forward, blasting a path through the enemy ranks, bearing quickly down on the small army trapped in the center of the monsters. In the path it left cleared behind it, smooth glassy arcs of water rose from the ground, creating an impermeable tunnel between the gates and the storm. 

"Split it up in three...two...one...go!" A.J. shouted over the howling winds. The hurricane ripped itself in half, forming two smaller cyclones that began to drop down before he was able to cut in and lift them back up, sending them on a more frenzied course that circled around the encampment. The buffeting winds nearly knocked their pegasus out of the sky, but A.J. dug her heels into its side and he rose above the calamity below to a level patch of air, hundreds of feet above the ground. Orion could faintly see black dots racing through the tunnel below them, a line of ants rushing to their hill. 

"We just have to hold it for eight or nine minutes." A.J. said, her voice tight. "I told Reyna not to expect much more than that." He nodded, pulling on her waist so she was leaning against his chest. He wasn't quite feeling the effects of supporting such a huge storm yet due to the effects of the ambrosia, but she had been fighting more than he had, and the fatigue was already starting to set in. 

"We're good, just not that good." He said soothingly as she sighed uncomfortably. "You should have taken some of-"

"I. Will. Be. FINE." she snapped at him, and he smiled fondly. No better way to get her to do something than to pretend she couldn't. Stubborn idiot never could turn down a challenge, could she? 

Seconds stretched into minutes, and her breathing became slightly labored, and even he was starting to feel the strain of supporting such an enormous system for so long. 

"I think they're almost all through." He said gently. "Let's start closing in the storms, okay?" She whimpered slightly, eyes heavily lidded, but the storms below began to subside and draw towards the tunnel. He lessened the winds surrounding them and let the swirling vortexes of water begin to fall towards the ground, hopefully to drown whatever nasties were situated below them.

Slowly, they released the winds and waters back to the earth, the storms dissipating into clouds of fine mist, the arches crashing to the ground, one set at a time in a path up to the gates, in case any stragglers needed a few extra seconds to make a break for it. 

"Let's get inside." Orion said as A.J. began to stir, sitting up on her own and rubbing droopy eyelids, slowly becoming more alert after using so much power. 

"I need like six naps." she grumbled as she nudged their steed towards the mountain. "And maybe coffee. Yeah, coffee would be nice. Sucks that Starbucks doesn't do the holiday drinks year round, I would love a-" Their ride suddenly jolted to a stop, nearly flinging Orion off the back of the pegasus who was unable to move forward, the way blocked by a golden forcefield. "Huh?"

"It's the protective enchantments." Orion guessed. "Why are they up? They should recognize us as legacies..."

A.J. was silent for a minute, then spoke. "Could it be...you know....the thing?"

"What thing?" He asked, confused. 

" _That_ thing?" She waved at her arm. "The _not-good-thing_. If the enchantments can detect it, it makes sense they would try and block me." 

"So...should I do the permission giving then? Or are we going to have to find a god-Mr. B was here earlier, he stopped by to say hi and-"

"Wait, what?" she said, looking startled. "Mr. B, like, our Mr. B?" 

"Yeah..." Orion said. "He appeared on the ship, gave me some advice."

"And you didn't tell me!?" She demanded, twisting in the saddle to look up at him. "What did he say?"

"He knows about Sam." he said, and her eyes darkened grimly. "Also, I'm writing the report this time because you're bad at them. And...we don't exist as noninvasive variables anymore. We have the potential to screw this up big time."

"We won't." she said, but didn't sound all that confident in herself. "Everything will turn out just fine. It has to. I figured he would know about Sam, he is a god after all. And if I'm off of paperwork duty, then this is really good news!" She smiled wickedly. "Let's see how you like handing in forms." 

Orion sighed, rolling his eyes at her. "I'm sure I'll have the time of my life. Now. Do you think we should try and summon him, or-" 

"I think it'll be fine if you grant permission. It's worked before, like when we had to get into that shrine and Sam got me in. The time travel probably just negated all permissions-they haven't been granted to me yet, so they don't exist. I really should have thought of that..." She shifted in the saddle. "I'm gonna turn around now, don't let me splatter." She grabbed his hands, and after a moment of maneuvering and nearly giving him a black eye with her knee, they were seated facing each other, his hand on her forehead. 

"I, Orion Perseus Grace, legacy of Jupiter and Aphrodite, give permission to A.J. Jackson, legacy of Poseidon and Athena, to enter Olympus. I accept full responsibility for her actions, and will see to it that she causes no trouble." He recited off quickly, not pausing to hesitate over the wording. No bright lights, no fireworks, no intense background music. Just a couple of teenagers sitting on a flying horse hundreds of feet off the ground. Nothing to see there. 

"I don't feel different." she said, flipping her hands over and examining the backs. 

"You look stupider than usual." He told her, smiling innocently and taking the punch to the chest she delivered with a scowl. 

"Let's go, pretty boy." She swung herself around so she was facing forward again, and the pegasus cantered forward through the forcefield and onto the mountain. 

**40 - jason**

Jason couldn't remember much of the battle that followed. Their giants defeated, they had rejoined the main effort, dueling with countless opponents, slaying the multitudes of opponents that presented themselves, only for them to pop up again in their wake, quickly overpowering anyone foolish enough not to watch their back. 

It seemed like they were fighting for days, even weeks, although it couldn't have been more than an hour or two. Frank and Jason were fighting back to back, having long since lost Percy and Hazel in the tides of monsters. He could have sworn he caught a glimpse of Leo at one point, just a blaze of fire amidst the torches, but it could have been a trick of the light, a monster trying to throw him off of his guard. 

The fight was getting worse and worse, the two of them barely making it to the rest of the army in one piece, all pressed together on the outskirts of the encampment. Jason heard the order to retreat to Olympus, and he obeyed it without thinking, still trying to fend off what monsters he could as they backed quickly together, moving slowly-too slowly- through the monsters, the vanguard trying desperately to push them through the ranks to the gates, where they would be home free. 

It really did look like this could be the end. 

And then it started to rain. Not just rain, pouring rain, a first a soft splattering and then a full drizzle, buffetted by huge gusts of wind billowing from all directions, blasting out from-was that, no, it couldn't be, Percy was in no state to be supporting that kind of them-

Yet there, spiraling up around them, were two monstrous hurricanes, sweeping through the perimeter between the monsters and the demigods. 

"Holy Hades." Jason breathed, watching the two colossal storms sweep through the ranks of the monsters, forming a protective barrier between them and the small army. 

"You don't think....the gods?" Frank asked, eyes nearly popping out of his head. 

"I don't know what to think, other than to thank whoever did this." Jason said. Something was changing down here on the battlefield- he suddenly had elbow room, as if the demigod army had a way through to-he twisted, keeping his blade high against the monsters being washed back by the storms to see brilliant blue arches of water forming a direct pathway from them to the gates. "No way..." He breathed. "It's got to be the gods, they must have pulled through for us!" The horn sounded for a full retreat at double time, and the fighters around him suddenly seemed to pull back, instead of being packed like sardines in a can, he suddenly had elbow room to keep the few monsters that had managed to escape the storm at bay. 

The quickest march Jason had ever seen the legion do was in full swing, demigods half-running, half-jogging down the long crystal hallway, some dead set on making it through, others shouting jeers and taunts at the monsters on the other side of the walls. Jason and Frank waited until the very end, rounding up a few of the stragglers (usually bloodthirsty children of Mars/Ares who wanted no part of a retreat) and sending them through with a dangerous look or a sharp word. 

"That's all of them. Let's go, Jason." Frank said, surveying the area one last time as he reloaded his bow. 

"Okay." Jason nodded, and the two of them began to sprint their way down the pathway. 

"What do you think the walls of this are made of?" Frank asked as they hurried past the rows of jeering monsters who were hammering away at the crystalline structure. 

"It looks like glass, but it's too sturdy for that. Diamond, maybe?" 

"Could be-it did rise out of the ground. Pluto giving us a hand, you think?" 

"I don't care who it is, we owe them-WHAT THE-" The air suddenly filled with an angry roaring, followed by heavy thuds. Jason took a quick peek over his shoulder, and immediately wished he hadn't. The tunnel's ceiling was collapsing down, shattering in waves on the ground. "RUN FRANK!" He yelled, and the two of them took off sprinting, Frank morphing into a cheetah, racing ahead of Jason. 

He skidded through the opening in the golden gates, Frank, now in human form again, slamming them shut behind him, just as the last of the pathway collapsed, the arches melting into the ground. 

"Holy gods." Frank whispered reverently, eyes wide. 

"That was close." Jason agreed, running a hand through his hair. He turned to see Octavian stalking towards them, eyes dark and hair matted with blood. "Oh Hades no." He mumbled, grabbing Frank's wrist and pulling him through the crowds of demigods clustered in the foyer, climbing up on the dead fountain in the middle and clearing his throat, waiting for everyone to give them their attention. 

"You're the praetor here. Get them all to head up to Olympus, set up barricades. Gaea is going to find away around the gates, and we need to be ready for her." Jason whispered to Frank. 

Frank swallowed visibly, then nodded. "Got it. What are you going to do?" 

"Get the others up to the mountain, have a chat with the gods. See if we can get any more of them to be stable enough to fight for us." Frank nodded, and Jason hopped down from the fountain, slipping away through the crowds as Frank began to speak, giving instructions and orders. Kid was doing great, especially for someone given the position in a field promotion in the middle of a battle. 

He caught Leo and Piper standing together, Piper bandaging Leo's nose, which appeared to be badly broken. Annabeth was talking to Reyna, and he pulled her away with an apologetic look to Reyna, who only nodded, smiling at him weakly. Percy and Hazel took precious minutes to find, but eventually they were found talking furtively at the base of the stairs, discussing who knows what. 

"We're going to head on up now, talk to the gods, see how the city's doing. " Jason explained as they hiked up the stairs. "Frank's going to have the rest of them follow us up, set up defensive barriers and get as many people healed as possible." 

"Good." Percy said. "But are we not gonna talk about those storms-those were wicked, man. And the tunnel-Hazel and I think that might have been water, but I don't know who could have done that..." 

"Wait, that wasn't you two?" Annabeth asked, eyebrows narrowing. "I assumed the storms were Jason and the tunnel was you." 

The two boys looked at each other, shrugged, and looked back at the others. 

"Nope." Percy said, popping the p. "I'm running on just about empty for godly powerups." 

"Same here." said Jason ruefully. "I don't think I could fly myself very far, let alone summon anything of that magnitude. 

"The gods, then?" Piper asked, passing Leo another Kleenex for his bloody nose. 

Percy shook his head. "Couldn't be. Zeus and Poseidon are still out of commission, fighting between their forms. I doubt they'd be able to summon that kind of power." 

"Zagujay 'nd Kryeon." Leo slurred, turning and spitting a glob of blood laden phlegm over the side of the pathway. "Blargh. A.J. and Orion." 

"How bad is your nose, dude?" Jason stopped, and hurried down from his place in the front to check on his friend.

Leo waved him away. "'S fine. Just bloody."

"I'll get him to an Apollo kid once we're up top." Piper whispered to him, giving him a warm smile. He gave her a grin back, and the three of them hurried up the stairs to catch up with the others. 

"I think Leo might be right." Hazel said thoughtfully. "The two of them would need to be in top form to even consider moving that much water, though." 

"Not if they were jacked up on ambrosia." Annabeth said quietly, picking at a fingernail. "Reyna did say that A.J. had taken a pegasus and a decent amount of the stuff up to the Argo II. We were interrupted-" She gave Jason a pointed look. "Before she could tell me what A.J. had intended to do with it, but judging by the nature of our rescue, it seems likely that that was the purpose." 

"Oh." Hazel said. "Yes, that would make sense." 

The stairs broke off into a thin pathway across a chasm, leading up to a city made out of gold and silver. Parts of it appeared to be under construction, scaffolding and building materials piled around some of the half-finished structures. The whole place glowed with faint shimmers of gold that seemed to emanate from the buildings themselves. It was deathly silent as well, only the faint breathing of the other demigods could be heard. 

"It's like a ghost town." Piper said softly. 

"Yeah." Jason said, reaching over and grabbing her hand. "Let's head straight for the throne room, okay?" 

Annabeth took the lead, guiding them through empty courtyards and marketplaces, their footsteps echoing through silent galleries and halls. They delved further and further into the city, and began to hear a few signs of life- a scared dryad diving back into her tree as they passed, and the humming of voices became apparent. 

"Here we are." Annabeth paused outside of two golden gates, before walking in like she owned the place. 

The throne room was in chaos. The gods were mostly seated in their thrones, some picking at the armrests listlessly, others having psychotic breaks, arguing with the air in front of them. Only a few-Venus, Bacchus, Vesta and Apollo- were maintaining their composure, and they were standing in their human forms, talking to five demigods who looked like they had seen better days. As they approached, Jason took an immediate concern for Orion- he looked pale and drawn, eyes slightly out of focus. There were cuts along his forearms, and something had ripped the back of his hoodie wide open, the fabric hanging shredded. The others were in no better shape- A.J. appeared to be dead on her feet, swaying slightly, Emma had the upper part of her left arm tightly bandaged, Jake had a nasty burn across his chest and Sam looked like he had taken a bath in a mud puddle.

"Holy Hephaestus," Leo said, giving Sam a distant one armed hug, trying to keep the muck off of himself. "What happened to you guys?" 

"Drakon." Emma said, trying to shrug off Hazel's worrying. "Nasty one too, twice the size of the one that got into camp last summer, remember that sucker?" 

"Emma, she ate two campers before we got her." A.J. said, eyebrows raised. "No way did you fight a bigger one." 

"It was!" Emma insisted, waving her good hand for emphasis. A.J. looked like she was going to fire something back, but a shake of the head from Orion shut her up. 

" _Sure_ it was Em." A.J. said, conceding with a sigh. "Well, the gods are generally being useless, but that's pretty normal for them." 

Aphrodite sniffed, swinging her blonde curls over one shoulder. "I offered to give you all makeovers." 

"Yes." Jake said. "Makeovers. Very helpful right now when we're all about to die." 

A.J. mumbled something under her breath that caused Orion to give a snort of laughter, but when they turned to them for an explanation, she waved them away with a good-natured smile.

"Isn't there some godly stuff you guys can whip up to snap the others out of it?" asked Leo.

Apollo shrugged. "No can do man. They gotta accept the good and bad of both sides or they'll stay all wacked out." 

"We should concentrate on securing the city." said Hestia softly. "Seal the borders. The wind gods are keeping most of the barrage of attacks out, but they won't be able to hold indefinitely." 

"True." said Percy. "Jason, why don't you stay with Hazel and Annabeth, talk with the gods and see if you can reason with them. The rest of us should split up." 

"I agree." said Annabeth, taking control. "Percy, you go with Orion, take the southern border. Leo go with Sam to the north, Emma and Jake can go west and A.J. and I...we'll take the east." 

Jason nodded, the plan sounded like a pretty good one. Divide and conquer, the oldest trick in the book for a reason. He caught a glimpse of the five newcomers sharing quick looks, some of concern, some relaxed, but mainly of a general agreement. "When Frank gets here with everyone else, I'll have him and Reyna split up out forces to go help you out. We'll need to concentrate especially on the path from the gates-that's the most obvious line of fire for them to get up here."

"That's on the south side." Percy said, slinging an arm around Orion's shoulders. " 'Rion and I got this covered." 

"Yeah, definitely." " 'Rion" said, and the two of them headed out of a side door back into the city, drawing their weapons. 

"Let's go." Annabeth said to A.J., turning on heel and marching swiftly through the entrance they had all came from. A.J. gave them a quick wave, setting her features from slight nerves to casual nonchalance, and jogged after her mother, whipping twin blades out of seemingly nowhere. 

"We'll see you guys. Good luck with the gods." Leo clapped Jason on the shoulder, and their little group split up, the others quickly exiting the throne room. 

"Well then!" Apollo said happily. "Just us and the crazies now!" 

**ch 41 - Percy**

Percy wasn't quite sure what to think of Orion. On one hand, the kid was Jason and Pipers' son, wickedly good with his broadsword, clever enough to keep himself alive, and not a bad conversationalist. On the other hand, he was his daughter's best friend. Percy had only been a father for a few hours, but he already felt a slight irritation with the kid. The two were close. Maybe a little _too_ close. Percy had his eye on him alright. He idly wondered if he was this protective of A.J. in the future. Nah. He was a cool dad, right? 

But it certainly wouldn't hurt anyone too much to have a little chat, dude to dude. 

"So you guys have known each other since forever, right?" He asked, feigning nonchalance as they jogged through the abandoned city. 

"Yup. Literally since birth." Orion said. 

"Do you do everything together?" asked Percy. 

"Well...sort of. Quests, yeah. Training, not really. School, not much, A.J. and I attend the same academy but the rest are at different schools. Home, totally. We practically live at each other's houses." said Orion. 

'Live at each other's houses'. That was a little unsettling. "So how much training do you guys get in? Must be a lot for you to be so confident." Percy asked. 

Orion shrugged. "During the school year we really only go on the weekends, but in the summer it's a good five days a week, sometimes more. A.J. and I train in swords- we actually teach the beginner's swordfighting course to the little kids and newbies. Emma specilizes in crossbow, but really any projectile weaponry is good in her hands. Jake's got his axe, which is scary as Hades if you don't know how much the guy likes kittens. Sam's really reliant on stuff he builds, but if he had to pick a 'weapon' weapon, it'd be like a really big knife. " 

Percy nodded absently. Something was off now that Orion was separated from the others. He had lost some of his charm, looked a little older, a little more tired. Probably the effects of the battle so far, poor kid. They'd done quests, but if they'd never been in a full-scale war-.

"We've fought in wars before you know." Orion said quietly, somehow seeming to read Percy's feelings. "Last Great Prophecy was a hot mess and a half." 

"It couldn't have been that bad." Percy said, but his mind was reeling. Another Great Prophecy, and within his lifetime. 

Orion gave a humorless laugh. "Fifteen went out, seven came back. Two died before we even made it to our final stand, four on the battlefield, and Danny and Scott-" He sighed. "Well, they didn't make it either."

Percy decided not to press the poor guy. Good gods of Olympus, that was over half of those kids dead. 

They reached a small balcony at the very edge of the city. The railing had been ripped away, and it was a broken drop into empty space, pitch black and terrifying. For a moment, Percy was reminded of that awful pit, dangling over the rim of Tartarus, a long fall and no looking back. He took a few hesitant steps towards the edge, peering over the rim. 

"I doubt anything will be climbing up over tha-whoa." He turned around to find Orion with his sword held aloft, tip inches away from his throat. "Dude, what the-" 

Orion's features morphed into a disgusted sneer. "This is the end of the line for you, Percy Jackson." 

"Wait-wait, what? I don't...what?" Percy stammered out, mind whirling. He had Riptide out and uncapped, of course, but Orion's sword was longer, had a better reach. Riptide would miss by inches if he tried to swing at the kid. _Gods_ what was happening? 

"There is no Orion Grace." Not-Orion said coolly. "There is no A.J. Jackson. We're figments of your imagination Percy. Not quite spirits, not quite shades. Could have beens, I guess you could call us." He smirked. "You never left the pits of Tartarus Percy. You're still down there. Annabeth is dead, she died _screaming_ in agony as they ripped her apart while you sat there, stuck in this mad daydream about the children the Seven would never have. About a war you could win. Nothing that's happened here is _real_ Percy. Gaea is almost risen, the giants are walking the earth and causing so much destruction. The five aboveground are in the midst of a civil war with each other. Camp Half-Blood burned, and Jupiter is a pile of rubble.

Your friends there are all dead, and here you are, living in a world where they're alive. Where you are all fighting together, happily and alive, filled with hope.

There is no hope left in this world, there hasn't been any in a very long time. 

"This is all happening inside of your head Percy. And it's time for you to wake up." He lunged forward, jamming the point of his blade through the center of Percy's neck. 

\----

It hurt. It hurt so badly, god, like his blood was solidifying, thick and slow in his veins. His eyes drifted open- really open, properly open. 

It was red and dark and the air hung heavy with the stink of rotting flesh and hot blood. His wrists were bound, spread-eagled across a rock, shirt gone and covered in sweat. There was someone across the way from him, a limp figure with greasy blonde curls and blood-stained skin. 

_Annabeth._

_I'm so sorry._


End file.
